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. We have received assurances that he will receive due process. But the Canadian public was starting to squirm.An Angus ReidStrategies poll showed that just over half of Canadians wanted theConservative government to bring Omar home.The June survey of 1,058people found that fifty-one per cent believed Ottawa should activelyintervene.The Canadian Secretary General of Amnesty International, Alex Neve,invited reporters to Parliament Hill on June 14 as he presented the federalgovernment a letter signed by an impressive list of Canadians, urgingHarper to personally intervene in Omar s case.Among the signatorieswere twenty-five current and former politicians, including former LiberalForeign Affairs Minister Bill Graham, former Prime Minister Joe Clark, ninecivil rights organizations and 111 lawyers, academics and social activists. His case now almost stands alone in terms of individuals who have been214 Law and Disorderabandoned by their governments, Neve told journalists.Neve blamedthe government s inaction, under both the Liberals and Conservatives,on the unpopularity of the Khadr family and the general reluctance topress the United States on security issues out of fear of being labeled softon terrorism. But he also acknowledged that the family s reputation hadkept even grassroots and civil rights groups away from the case until now. There has been some nervousness about the dynamic associated with theKhadr family, Neve said. But I think it has become clear as time haspassed that this truly is a deep, unforgivable injustice. Even within Bush s inner circle, criticism of Guantanamo was building.On June 21, the Associated Press reported that a meeting of senior cabinetsecretaries and intelligence and military officials was to take place inWashington the next day to discuss closing Guantanamo.Following thereport, National Security Council spokesperson Gordon Johndroe said themeeting was canceled but gave no reasons as to why.The White Houseissued a statement saying President Bush was looking for alternatives toGuantanamo, but denied that a decision to close the internment campwas imminent. On August 11, 2007, Bill Kuebler stood nervously at a podium in Calgary sConvention Centre.It was the first day of the Canadian Bar Association sannual meeting and before him were members of the organization s governingcouncil.This was Kuebler s chance to convince the country s largest legalorganization that the military commissions were deeply flawed and encouragethem to take up Omar s cause, much as the law societies in Australia andGreat Britain had done for their detainees.He took a deep breath and begana twenty-minute PowerPoint presentation. It s a system designed to launder torture, Kuebler said as the audiencefell silent. I know that s a strong statement.But I actually think it is truebecause the intelligence-collection regime that we established at places likeGuantanamo did not use the safeguards and procedures the law enforcementagencies routinely use when gathering information from suspects to ensurethat that information is reliable.After 9/11 our government initiated whatwe call the War on Terror, which involved putting much greater emphasison gathering intelligence.And to do that it was believed that we neededto establish a system which would permit the aggressive interrogation and215 GUANTANAMO S CHILDdetention of people that we believed were involved in international terror.Now it was important that this system take place without the ordinarylegal constraints that were applicable to the criminal justice system, or theconventional law of armed conflict.And so we developed an elaborate legaljustification for why we could detain and hold terror suspects virtuallyindefinitely, and subject them to just about any interrogation method orprocedure that we deemed necessary.What we obtained from this processis evidence, if you want to call it that, that would not be admissible in anyregular court, and so we had to devise some sort of a new set of procedures foressentially laundering this information and being able to obtain convictionsfrom some sort of court. Kuebler then turned his attack to the military commissions themselves,which he said were merely show trials at Guantanamo, which he calleda modern day Devil s Island, and to the Bush administration s newdefinition of war crimes. If you are in a war, there are certain thingsyou can t do.You can t attack a civilian.You can t shoot a PoW who hassurrendered.You can t attack a church.What the law of war doesn t do issay that it s illegal to engage in combat.So they created this concept of unlawful enemy combatant, which was unknown both in internationallaw of armed conflict and.the United States understanding of the armedconflict before 9/11, and it essentially says that anyone in Afghanistan whoresisted the U.S.invasion was guilty of a war crime. When Kuebler finished, the lawyers jumped to their feet, clappingwildly. I think it s time for all Canadians to be speaking out to end thishorrendous lack of due process, association president Parker MacCarthytold reporters at a news conference immediately following Kuebler sspeech.By the next day, MacCarthy had drafted a letter to Harper,again demanding that the government negotiate Omar s release fromGuantanamo.MacCarthy broke into a previously scheduled session toread from the letter and the lawyers again were on their feet for a standingovation.The Canadian Bar Association s endorsement helped Kuebler arrangea meeting the following month with Liberal leader Stephane Dion. It s amatter of rights, Dion told reporters after the Toronto meeting. Whenyou have the last Western citizen in Guantanamo and the governmentis not intervening, then the question comes into our minds: Why othercountries did and not Canada? Dion said.He too called on Harper to216 Law and Disorderpersonally intervene and demand that Khadr be tried in a civilian courtin the United States. If it s not something that the U.S.authorities arewilling to accept, then we will ask for the repatriation of this citizen. But despite this seeming groundswell of support, Harper did notrespond and government spokespeople once again uttered the oft repeatedmedia lines: the Canadian government would not interfere in Omar s trial.Omar s legal team was once again at odds over how to handle the case.Rebecca Snyder, a U.S.Department of Defense civilian lawyer who hadworked on the Hicks case, had been assigned to help Kuebler.Duringa week of speaking engagements in Canada, they started to clash withEdney, who was annoyed that Kuebler had been calling himself Omar s lead counsel. Edney also demanded to know why he had been shut outof the Dion meeting [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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. We have received assurances that he will receive due process. But the Canadian public was starting to squirm.An Angus ReidStrategies poll showed that just over half of Canadians wanted theConservative government to bring Omar home.The June survey of 1,058people found that fifty-one per cent believed Ottawa should activelyintervene.The Canadian Secretary General of Amnesty International, Alex Neve,invited reporters to Parliament Hill on June 14 as he presented the federalgovernment a letter signed by an impressive list of Canadians, urgingHarper to personally intervene in Omar s case.Among the signatorieswere twenty-five current and former politicians, including former LiberalForeign Affairs Minister Bill Graham, former Prime Minister Joe Clark, ninecivil rights organizations and 111 lawyers, academics and social activists. His case now almost stands alone in terms of individuals who have been214 Law and Disorderabandoned by their governments, Neve told journalists.Neve blamedthe government s inaction, under both the Liberals and Conservatives,on the unpopularity of the Khadr family and the general reluctance topress the United States on security issues out of fear of being labeled softon terrorism. But he also acknowledged that the family s reputation hadkept even grassroots and civil rights groups away from the case until now. There has been some nervousness about the dynamic associated with theKhadr family, Neve said. But I think it has become clear as time haspassed that this truly is a deep, unforgivable injustice. Even within Bush s inner circle, criticism of Guantanamo was building.On June 21, the Associated Press reported that a meeting of senior cabinetsecretaries and intelligence and military officials was to take place inWashington the next day to discuss closing Guantanamo.Following thereport, National Security Council spokesperson Gordon Johndroe said themeeting was canceled but gave no reasons as to why.The White Houseissued a statement saying President Bush was looking for alternatives toGuantanamo, but denied that a decision to close the internment campwas imminent. On August 11, 2007, Bill Kuebler stood nervously at a podium in Calgary sConvention Centre.It was the first day of the Canadian Bar Association sannual meeting and before him were members of the organization s governingcouncil.This was Kuebler s chance to convince the country s largest legalorganization that the military commissions were deeply flawed and encouragethem to take up Omar s cause, much as the law societies in Australia andGreat Britain had done for their detainees.He took a deep breath and begana twenty-minute PowerPoint presentation. It s a system designed to launder torture, Kuebler said as the audiencefell silent. I know that s a strong statement.But I actually think it is truebecause the intelligence-collection regime that we established at places likeGuantanamo did not use the safeguards and procedures the law enforcementagencies routinely use when gathering information from suspects to ensurethat that information is reliable.After 9/11 our government initiated whatwe call the War on Terror, which involved putting much greater emphasison gathering intelligence.And to do that it was believed that we neededto establish a system which would permit the aggressive interrogation and215 GUANTANAMO S CHILDdetention of people that we believed were involved in international terror.Now it was important that this system take place without the ordinarylegal constraints that were applicable to the criminal justice system, or theconventional law of armed conflict.And so we developed an elaborate legaljustification for why we could detain and hold terror suspects virtuallyindefinitely, and subject them to just about any interrogation method orprocedure that we deemed necessary.What we obtained from this processis evidence, if you want to call it that, that would not be admissible in anyregular court, and so we had to devise some sort of a new set of procedures foressentially laundering this information and being able to obtain convictionsfrom some sort of court. Kuebler then turned his attack to the military commissions themselves,which he said were merely show trials at Guantanamo, which he calleda modern day Devil s Island, and to the Bush administration s newdefinition of war crimes. If you are in a war, there are certain thingsyou can t do.You can t attack a civilian.You can t shoot a PoW who hassurrendered.You can t attack a church.What the law of war doesn t do issay that it s illegal to engage in combat.So they created this concept of unlawful enemy combatant, which was unknown both in internationallaw of armed conflict and.the United States understanding of the armedconflict before 9/11, and it essentially says that anyone in Afghanistan whoresisted the U.S.invasion was guilty of a war crime. When Kuebler finished, the lawyers jumped to their feet, clappingwildly. I think it s time for all Canadians to be speaking out to end thishorrendous lack of due process, association president Parker MacCarthytold reporters at a news conference immediately following Kuebler sspeech.By the next day, MacCarthy had drafted a letter to Harper,again demanding that the government negotiate Omar s release fromGuantanamo.MacCarthy broke into a previously scheduled session toread from the letter and the lawyers again were on their feet for a standingovation.The Canadian Bar Association s endorsement helped Kuebler arrangea meeting the following month with Liberal leader Stephane Dion. It s amatter of rights, Dion told reporters after the Toronto meeting. Whenyou have the last Western citizen in Guantanamo and the governmentis not intervening, then the question comes into our minds: Why othercountries did and not Canada? Dion said.He too called on Harper to216 Law and Disorderpersonally intervene and demand that Khadr be tried in a civilian courtin the United States. If it s not something that the U.S.authorities arewilling to accept, then we will ask for the repatriation of this citizen. But despite this seeming groundswell of support, Harper did notrespond and government spokespeople once again uttered the oft repeatedmedia lines: the Canadian government would not interfere in Omar s trial.Omar s legal team was once again at odds over how to handle the case.Rebecca Snyder, a U.S.Department of Defense civilian lawyer who hadworked on the Hicks case, had been assigned to help Kuebler.Duringa week of speaking engagements in Canada, they started to clash withEdney, who was annoyed that Kuebler had been calling himself Omar s lead counsel. Edney also demanded to know why he had been shut outof the Dion meeting [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]