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Khadr wants to return to Canada, fix his health, educate himself and find a job satisfying his personal commitment to help those in need. (Reuters) |
CAIRO — "Good," "salvageable," "non-radicalized," "likeable" and "funny" are some of the descriptions given to Omar Khadr by his US captors and visiting Canadian diplomats, but still he remains languishing in Guantanamo for the sixth year.
"Omar is 'salvageable,' 'non-radicalized' and 'a good kid' who is well-liked both within the Camp and by [Joint Task Force] staff," a Foreign Affairs official wrote in official documents obtained by the Globe and Mail newspaper on Tuesday, June 3.
"JTF staff seems to look out for him by stopping by to chat on occasion, convincing him to meet with his lawyers and encouraging him to 'keep his nose clean'."
Khadr, a Canadian citizen, was captured in Afghanistan at the age 15.
He has no vision in his left eye and his right eye is deteriorating because of shrapnel embedded in the eye's membrane.
He still has shrapnel in his right shoulder, and it causes the metal detectors at the prison camp to go off.
In 2007, US military judges dropped all war crimes charges against him in a stunning blow and embarrassment to the Bush administration.
He was exonerated of killing a US soldier with a grenade and wounding another in 2002.
Khadr is due back in a Guantanamo Bay courtroom later this month to face charges including the murder of a US soldier during an Afghan firefight.
The US has been holding hundreds of detainees at its notorious Guantanamo detention center for years.
It declared them "enemy combatants" to deny them legal rights under the American legal system.
Future-oriented
Department of Foreign Affairs officials who visited Khadr in Guantanamo in March and April also share very positive views of him.
One official described him as a "likeable, funny and intelligent young man."
The reports contradict all earlier held misconceptions about Khadr, now 21.
"The overarching theme of much of our discussions focused on his desire to get out of Guantanamo, to return to Canada, to fix his health, to educate himself, to have a family and to eventually find a job satisfying his personal commitment to help those in need," a Foreign Affairs official writes.
"By contrast, he also expressed a hyper-awareness of the challenges that he would face, but demonstrated no bitterness or anger, emphasizing instead a desire to move forward in life," adds the official.
Khadr has asked his visiting Canadian diplomat for, inter alia, a book on French for beginners, a first-aid book and a stress ball.
"He wonders, however, why Canada is so quiet on his case and commented that, while Canada was the best country in the world to live in, it was not as strong as the UK to defend its citizens abroad, although both countries have the same Queen."
The Globe and Mail said the documents will almost certainly put pressure on Canada to finally attempt to bring Khadr home.
Adding to the pressure would be warning from the American jailers that Khadr's continued detention in Guantanamo could backfire.
"…our US military contact repeated what he had said during the welfare visit conducted in March," a Foreign Affairs official wrote in one report.
"He said that extended detention in Guantanamo would however run the risk of turning [Mr. Khadr] into a radical."
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