Omar Khadr is a scapegoat for a failed "war on terror."

By Binyam Mohamed

I was and continue to be astonished by the fate of Omar Khadr, a 15-year-old child who has grown into a man in an illegal prison.  Locked away in neighbouring cages, we spent a lot of time trading torture and abuse stories.  We were psychologists treating each other.  By listening to each other we beat an exploitive system established to break us and drive us insane.   

Commissioning brought peace to us.  It meant the end of "enhanced interrogations" (otherwise known to the common man as torture) and offered our only opportunity to break our silence and attempt to refute falsehood with truth.  Due to the public nature of the first ten commissions, we few emerged from the hundreds of forgotten prisoners, our testimony exposing America’s injustices.   

I am amazed how U.S. officials, driven by the desire to justify their illegal acts, have turned this Palestinian-Canadian child into a hero in the eyes of the Muslim youths around the world.  And I am more amazed at how America keeps hiding exculpatory evidence in his case, claiming secrets of national security.  Yet we all know the facts.   

There is a contradiction in the "evidence" tortured out of this man, and the facts hidden.  I can’t comprehend nor can I write of the torture and abuse suffered by Omar.  The scars seen say it all.  Those who witness them swell up with tears and are embarrassed at sharing their own experiences of oppression, as the evidence also classified as secret in the interest of national embarrassment, shows. 

As we sat in the recreation yard in camp 5 Guantanamo Bay, Omar recounted to me what happened, the one who threw the grenade at the Americans was shot and killed, The American soldier who Omar is accused of killing with a hand grenade, died of a gun shot wound, and not of grenade shrapnel as the American Government claim. As the American soldiers came in, They shot Omar in the back, and he fell amongst the other people killed, they shot at one man who was still standing defending himself from the American onslaught, once the soldiers had killed him, they walked over and stepped on Omar thinking him to be dead. I have not only seen the bullet holes on his back, but I have touched them.  He has lost his eyesight in one eye and partially in the other, due to the grenade thrown at him by the Americans in the ensuing gunfire.   

The American government is guaranteed a conviction in an illegal system they call "military commissions." And what a great victory it must be for them.  America versus a juvenile, imprionsed and tortured for eight long years, yet the question greater than this is "where is justice, equality and a fair trial?" I am enraged to hear these baseless allegations against a juvenile for the interests of oppressive politics.  Omar could refute all of these charges in a regular court established under the pretext of justice, fairness and equality, but after the recent case against Aafia Siddiqui convicted without any evidence, we know that justice will not be upheld, as the American government will never admit to its wrongdoing, and will continue to seek to justify these illegal practices.

This child’s case has pushed America to break all laws, go against her constitution, and to violate everything that she preaches.   

Omar Khadr is a scapegoat for a failed "war on terror."

By Binyam Mohamed

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