LogFAQs > #891278203

He's generally good. I'm still disappointed he abandoned electoral reform, but Canada is now leading the G20 in terms of economic growth, so he's clearly doing something right. He also reformed the senate in his first year in office, something that Harper never managed to do despite crowing about it for a decade, and the new senate now actually serves a purpose - that alone puts paid to the claims that he's not doing anything. And for whatever public opinion is worth, in the most recent set of polls Canada leads the entire world in terms of which country is seen globally as having the most positive influence.

minervo posted...

Not long ago he apologized and gave 10.5 million to Omar Khadr, a convicted terrorist.

"Convicted" being a pretty floppy term here. He was tried before a widely condemned military tribunal instead of an actual court of law, and convicted of crimes that were not on the books when he was accused of committing them (his "crime" - murder in violation of the laws of war - was created by Bush several years after Khadr had been incarcerated), largely based on confessions obtained via torture that were immediately recanted when that threat was removed. He is currently appealing the charges.

adjl posted...

There's a reasonable chance he's also a terrorist scumbag who belongs in prison, but that's quite irrelevant when it comes to his legal rights to not be tortured.

He was also legally a child when charged, giving him the dubious distinction of being the only child soldier ever prosecuted by the United States since the Geneva Convention was ratified.

Sorry, but you're going to have a hard time convincing me that the right place for a captured child soldier is prison (let alone Gitmo).

minervo posted...

At least Harper issued condolences to the widow of the American who got killed by Khadr... Trudeau did no such thing.

He did, though. He stated that he could not imagine the agony that the family had gone through.

And even that wasn't really necessary, because it's not even clear that Khadr killed anyone. He recanted his confession immediately upon being repatriated to Canada and claimed that he only said it because it because the Americans agreed to release him from Gitmo if he did, and all of Sgt. Speer's squadmates who initially testified against Khadr have similarly recanted their testimony and now claim they do not know who threw the grenade that killed him.
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Kill 1 man: You are a murderer. Kill 10 men: You are a monster.
Kill 100 men: You are a hero. Kill 10,000 men, you are a conqueror!