The allegations are NOT serious

There is considerable disagreement in this country between the Harper Konservatives and well, all the decent people, about what to do about Omar Khadr. The decent people find it beyond comprehension that the government would not be lobbying for the release of an abducted Canadian citizen. The Harper Konservatives think that the "established process" (as I heard one spokesman put it on the radio yesterday) should run its course, even if that involved having a fifteen year-old be sleep deprived prior to interrogations, and held at facilities notorious for abuse and murder on the part of the abductors. Incidentally, 2 U.S. Supreme Court rulings an 1 Supreme Court of Canada ruling have all declared the "established process" to be illegal.

Curiously, though, everyone seems to agree that the allegations against Khadr are "serious" - when this is raised, no one seems to quibble with it. "Of course the allegations are serious, but we have to do protect our citizen," say even those who are sympathetic to Khadr.

Are they though? What's he accused of? Throwing a grenade at US forces in Afghanistan, that killed one soldier. Never mind that the claim is itself dubious (which is to say, baseless), we are using standard American combat procedures here:

1) We go to 3rd-World country.
2) We drop bombs all over the place.
3) When we run out of things to bomb, we go in and shoot people.
4) Anybody who shoots back is a terrorist.

But who in Canada can be trust to explain the realities of combat to the bleeding-heart Canadians, clamoring for Khadr's release?

CanWest Global's flagship rag, the National Post, rises to the challenge.

And who do we find "reporting" for that rag? None other than Stewart Bell, author of such scholarly works as Cold Terror: How Canada Nutures and Exports Terrorism Around the World and Martyr's Oath: Apprenticeship of a Homegrown Terrorist. Forget "The Mozlems are Coming!" Apparently, Canada's REAL problem is "The Mozlems are Going!"

I have met Mr. Bell. To be charitable, he has spent too much time investigating one issue, and his approach has become rather blinkered. I won't say what I think of him when I'm not being charitable, but for him the word "terrorism" includes only violence committed by dark-skinned evil-doers, acting without the blessing of the US government.

From Bell's interviews with Sgt. Moris, who was blinded by that grenade:

"I haven't had a chance to look at it," Sgt. Morris, who lives in Utah, said of the video, "but I guess my thoughts are that if I'm ever in trouble, that's a bunch of defence attorneys that I'd like.

"They don't seem to be doing a whole lot of lawyering work. It's mostly PR work. And so it's kind of troublesome that the other side of the story has to be continually told in the media just to counter what the lawyers are trying to do in public."

Fortunately, courageous reporters like Stewart Bell are telling that story, giving hope and comfort to all those with paranoid delusions.