Korny revives Republican rhetoric to defend Harper

C’mon Korny you can do better than this.

Kory Teneycke, Harper’s new director of communications accused Senator Romeo Dallaire of grandstanding and flip-flopping on the Khadr case.

Teneycke was responding to Dallaire’s comments placing the governments refusal to intervene on behalf of Omar Khadr squarely on Harper’s shoulders.

I believe it is purely the Prime Minister – his individual perspective, Dallaire said. He's the leader of the party and it is his imprint, not anybody else's.

According to Teneycke this week's videotape release does not change Harper's position. Nor will any future revelations made by Khadr's lawyers.

Trying people through the court of public opinion is no way for politicians to act. (Harper) feels, as any responsible leader feels, that politicians are not judges and that due process should be followed and there shouldn't be a separate process for high-profile cases.

Unfortunately Korny, there is no due process of law being followed in Gitmo, at least not by Canadian legal standards. Nor by the standards of the US Supreme Court or by the legal standards of other western nations.

The idea of bringing charges against him (Khadr) would be technically feasible, but practically not a good option," said Wesley Wark, a University of Toronto professor and expert on security issues.

Any evidence that might potentially come into a court case of this kind might be challenged and ultimately dismissed.

U.S. military commissions allow evidence to be produced that was secured under cruel or degrading or inhumane treatment, but Canadian law wouldn't allow that.

The responsible leaders of the other western nations who had citizens from Guantanamo, including the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Australia have all secured their release, with only Spain and France even attempting a trial.

In neither case did the defendants serve additional time.

As both Harper and Korny well know, Canada has other options besides a trial to ensure Mr. Khadr is not a threat to public safety.

There is nothing stopping Canada's security services to continue to monitor Omar Khadr through surveillance and the like, Prof. Forcese a University of Ottawa law professor said. They don't need some sort of extra special legal power to do so, so to suggest that his repatriation to Canada equals impunity is misstating the law.

Indefinitely monitoring Mr. Khadr would be expensive, according to Prof. Wark, who noted another option would be to ask a judge for a peace bond, or an order imposing restrictions on Mr. Khadr's activities and associates.

A peace bond can't be so draconian as to amount to house arrest, but they can be quite stringent in terms of who [suspects] can consort with and what kind of jobs they can have and what kind of technology they can use, Prof. Forcese said.

That's a possibility that doesn't even involve a prosecution.

Unfortunately Korny the cat's out of the bag. The whole world now realizes that there is no due process of law going on in Guantanamo. The responsible leaders of the other western countries have responded and the only person stopping Canada from doing the right thing is your boss Harper.

And using tired old Republican rhetoric to attack the messenger doesn't change that fact.

C'mon Korny start setting up Harper's policy change, you know it's coming.

References and quotes from the Star here and the National Post here.