When racial profiling becomes good old racism

Omar Khadr and Maher Arar have a few things in common. Both are Canadians. Both have suffered injustice and the incompetent fumbling of official Ottawa compounded the injustice for both. Arar has been to Hell and back, serving some very hard time in a Syrian prison, and thanks to the Canadian government he is much richer for surviving the experience. For Khadr his Hell is ongoing as he has been appointed the consummate whipping boy, the leper of Gitmo, the pot shot of every bigot and the butt of monumental contempt by official Ottawa.

Official Ottawa’s disdain for protecting Khadr’s legal and citizenship rights and exercising some semblance of compassion makes for interesting conjecture-all of which casts Ottawa in a disingenuous role lacking in political courage, integrity or respect for the rule of law-but then with 9/11 the rule of law became mostly passé and Ottawa has been all too accommodating in its untimely erosion.

One possible reason for Ottawa’s eccentric behavior is that these are the dog days of summer, the one time in the year when people could care less about such issues. Ottawa is gambling the issue will die of indifference before the fall session of Parliament.

Another possibility is that this is a pattern of behavior for official Ottawa. Just as it screwed up the Arar case they are making a mess of the Khadr case, and if Khadr ever does get back to this country the Canadian government will end up- once again-back in an official inquiry defending its negligence and paying damages to the plaintiff.

It is noteworthy that Khadr’s American defense attorneys are making direct and passionate appeals to the Canadian government as they know too well their client is getting screwed and the only way he is going to escape conviction is repatriation. Absent without leave is the voice of the Canadian Bar Association as they too should be decrying this mockery of justice.

Anesthetized Ottawa doesn’t see the implications of it being the only Western country that has not repatriated its citizens from Gitmo successfully. Next time a Canadian official starts lecturing other countries on human rights violations they will have a demonstrable credibility gap to deal with.

A very distinct possibility is that Omar Khadr is just another installment of the WTT-the Washington Tribute Tax. Sycophantic Ottawa-always willing to pay in whatever currency- is under orders from Washington to take a dive on the Khadr case while the US military does its nefarious mischief in spite of rebukes from the US Supreme Court and many others who have a regard for the rule of law.

Arar and Khadr have another critical commonality-both are Arab. Both ideal candidates for racial profiling, especially Khadr as his deceased father was an al-Qaeda operative. But the question remains was he captive to his fathers beliefs or devotee? At the ripe old age of fifteen it is most certainly the former and not the latter.

In the crazed aftermath of 9/11 every brown skinned Arab became a potential terrorist suspect and racial profiling became epidemic. This epidemic easily mutated into outright racism with the help of cheerleading politicians who had to justify war through further scapegoating and vilification.

After serving two years in Iraq a British SAS commando by the name of Ben Griffin resigned his commission in disgust. He proclaimed "I did not join the British Army to conduct American foreign policy." Griffin was appalled at the “dozens of illegal acts” committed by US forces claiming they viewed all Iraqi’s as untermenschen- the Nazi term for races considered sub-human. Griffin’s accusation is validated by the unconscionable number of Iraqi deaths, mainly civilian, in this conflict and Western government’s refusal to document the number of deaths and their quickness in disputing estimates and surveys that do. This is nothing new as going back to the time of the Crusades plundering Arab populations has been the habitual adventurism of self-righteous Western Christendom. This age old antipathy goes on unabated feeding war mongers, arms dealers, preventing political solutions and consuming vast resources best directed elsewhere. The plundering is done in the name of spreading democracy but is really no more than good old 19^th century imperialism, robber-baron capitalism and racism: So much for the dawning of a more progressive 21^st century.

One of the great mysteries in the case of Omar Khadr remains: Why are his persecutors so determined to have a show trial for an inconsequential detainee whose only claim to fame is the notoriety of his al-Qaeda father? Is this some sort of vendetta sponsored by rogue elements in the Pentagon to punish the son for the sins of the father? Is this an act of spite that the son knew nothing and proved not to be the “high value” detainee hoped for?

Ottawa’s contrariness in this case is utterly simple-minded. Legal rights and rights of citizenship apply to all; to do otherwise renders them meaningless. Where they are breached it is only right to suspect that ulterior motives are at play along with malevolent intentions.

What is clear is that the grotesque maltreatment of these prisoners, the torture, the denial of legal rights, the subversion of the rule of law and any sense of decency has become systemic and must be eradicated before it becomes even more virulent.

Even though Omar Khadr is unexceptional among thousands of detainees in the War on Terror the facts of his case tell a sordid tale with conspicuous undercurrents that only the foolhardy and corrupt can ignore.

When Racial Profiling Becomes Good Old Racism

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