Abdurahman Khadr, 21, greets his brother Karim, 14, and mother Maha Elsamnah at Toronto's Pearson airport Friday. (CP/Aaron Harris)
Canadian dhimmitude is a familiar story, but sometimes the sheer suicidal imbecility of it still takes my breath away. From CP, with thanks to Twostellas:
TORONTO (CP) - A mother and her paralysed son - members of a family that has been linked to al-Qaida - returned to Canada on Friday, bringing the controversy over their reputed ties to the terrorist network back with them.Maha Elsamnah and her 14-year-old son Karim Khadr, who was shot in the spine in a shootout with Pakistani security forces, pushed their way through a crowd at Toronto's Pearson airport after arriving from Pakistan via Britain.
The teen flashed a peace sign as his wheelchair was guided past a throng of reporters.
His mother, her face partially hidden by a white veil, walked slowly behind her son, tears welling up in her eyes as she uttered: "I have no connection to al-Qaida," a statement that conflicted with her own past comments and with one of her son's remarks that his was an al-Qaida family.
The pair was escorted by a half-dozen police officers to a van that whisked them away from the Good Friday frenzy at the airport.
Abdurahman Khadr, 21, who himself was held as a suspected terrorist for a time, greeted his 47-year-old mother and younger brother. He said last month that his family had al-Qaida ties.
"I'm happy they're back and I'm hoping my sister, my other sister and her daughter will get back soon," Khadr told reporters after helping his brother up a ramp and into the van.
"We hope to get him into a hospital here," said Khadr, adding the family has no idea how they'll pay for treatment for the boy, who is not entitled to medicare coverage because he doesn't meet residency requirements.
Karim Khadr had been in a hospital in Rawalpindi since last October, when his spine was shattered during the shootout at a house in Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan.
The gunfight killed his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, 57, an Egyptian-born Canadian citizen and allegedly a close confidant of Osama bin Laden.
The Khadrs' return to Canada was arranged in part by Ottawa - a move immediately condemned by Conservative foreign affairs critic Stockwell Day as "outrageous."
Foreign Affairs spokesman Sameer Ahmed said the government contacted the Pakistani government and facilitated the Khadrs' one-time-only exit visas because "we have a responsibility to ensure that Canadian citizens can return to Canada."
Another government spokesman has said taxpayers weren't paying for the Khadrs' return, and the family instead used their own funds.
However, Day said the government's actions have "insulted" many Canadians.
"Many Canadians are insulted that our citizenship could be diminished in this way," said Day after the Khadrs' arrival.
"Mrs. Khadr on national television not long ago claimed to be a close associate of Osama bin Laden, claimed to embrace the views of al-Qaida - views which focus on the extermination of Jews, the killing of peace-loving Muslims and attacking democracies," said Day, referring to the woman's comments on CBC-TV's The National earlier this year.
"This whole thing is outrageous - that she (Mrs. Khadr) would be accorded the full rights of Canadian citizenship when she and her family . . . have been involved in the training fields and the killing fields of al-Qaida."
Abdurahman Khadr - who returned to Canada last fall after being released from a U.S. prison camp for terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba - has said family members fought for al-Qaida and even stayed with bin Laden.
At the same time, Khadr - who has been pleading with Ottawa for months for help in getting his paralysed brother and mother back to Canada - has firmly rejected Muslim extremism and terrorism.
A spokeswoman for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service refused to confirm whether the national spy agency has plans to monitor the Khadrs.
"Our mandate is quite clear: It's to investigate possible threats to the security of Canada," said Nicole Currier.
"In order to do that, we do analysis, we do investigations, we meet with people, we gather information and we provide advice to the Canadian government about information and we provide advice to the Canadian government about possible threats - either from groups or activities or individuals."
It wasn't clear why Pakistani authorities did not want to detain the teen further in connection with the firefight that killed his father.
His older brother has described him as innocent victim and lobbied to have the teen, mother and sister returned to Canada, saying he was worried they were under the spell of Muslim extremists and needed to be away from them.
Another Khadr brother, 17-year-old Omar, remains in U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay. He was arrested in Afghanistan almost two years ago and stands accused of killing an American soldier.
I'm with you. The return of these people is sheer idiocy. Considering that a wheelchair-bound paraplegic became a murder-cleric for Hamas shows that even this boy is a danger. His brother was wise to get him away from Pakistani extremists, but, did he really return to something better. After all, there are also extremists in Canada and in nearby Detroit other U.S. cities.
The family betrayed their true calling before. They are not innocents returning from abroad.
I'm a Canadian, and as I've mentioned before, I'm disgusted by our self-destructive hyper-pluralist idiocy.
Just a fun factoid, Mohammad Farah Aidid's wife lived in Ontario for some time, collecting welfare, before action was taken. You'll remember Aidid as the genocidal tyrant who sparked the Mogadishu incident in Somalia.
AS AN IRISH CANADIAN, I AM SICK TO THE TEETH WITH A GOVERNMENT WHO IS HELL BENT ON BEING P.C.
AND ITS DESTROYING THIS CONTRY .I SEE WHAT GOES ON HERE WITH MUSLEM IMMIGRANTS AND I FEEL POWERLESS.AND YOU DONT DARE SAY A WORD TO THEM, BUT THEY FEEL THEY CAN SAY ANYTHING TO YOU NO MATTER HOW INSULTING OR HURTFUL. IAM SICK OF ALL OF THEM AND THERE IS'NT ANY WHERE TO GO TO GET AWAY FROM . I RESENT THEM,AND THE STUPID GOV. WHO ALLOWS THEM IN. SCRATCH A MUSLEM DEEP ENOUGH AND THEY ARE ALL THE SAME
yvette:
Before anyone else starts getting testy with you, let me just politely remind you that all uppercase is considered shouting online, and is difficult to read.
I can see how your experiences might drive you to the point of screaming, but please do it with a pillow over your mouth in future. :)
What irritates me most about the whole Khadr affair is their flagrant abuse of their Canadian citizenship. I am a Canadian and a damn proud one at that and the behaviour of the Khadrs makes a totally mockery of my nationality. It seems to me that they, and many "new Canadians" as well, are Canadians of convenience. They obtain their citizenship, have a few children in the country to cement it, then wear their ethnic roots on their sleaves, only to become Canadians when it suits their social and economic needs. Citizenship in this nation is obtained too easily and anything that is given away so freely will be subjected to abuse and underappreciated, be seen more as a right, a freebee, then a privilege. We should stiffen our citizenship requirements for immigrants. Make them work for their citizenship and then they will really appreciate it but as long as the requirements stay as laxed as they are Canada will attract all the Khadrs of the world. And as long as Canadians do nothing about it then we deserve the people we get.
As a relatively new Canadian I am deeply sorry to see Canada, my adopted country, going in the path of self-destruction. I came from a place were corruption is rampant and I can tell you, it does not work. The government officials involved in this case are corrupting the system and working against the country. They should be accountable for their actions.
Quite apart from the egregious hypocrisy of this clan of vipers returning to Canada, having publicly denounced their native country through absolute support for Al Quaeda, the Khadr return illustrates a glaring deficiency in Canada's Citizenship Act: absent lying on the citizenship application, there is no way of stripping a Canadian of citizenship. Citizenship here is viewed as an absolute, unqualified right. Perhaps Stockwell Day has the guts to raise this deficiency in the House and demand legislative redress?
As for the crippled son, at least there is NO WAY that OHIP coverage is available to cover this little monster's treatment. Let them pass the hat in the mosques to pay for it.
Earl has raised a valid point. This was addressed in an editorial in today's National Post - that there is no legal way to block the family's return to Canada if they hold citizenship. They can rant and rave about jihad as much as they want but they haven't broken any Canadian laws.
This is a sad situation that should be addressed but let's not hold our breath waiting for the Liberal government to do anything about it. Compare this to the recent prosecutions in the U.S. when it's citizens have provided support for Muslim terrorists and fanatics.
Regarding health coverage (called OHIP in Ontario), I believe the little jerk will be eligible after a three month waiting period. In the meantime, they will be passing the hat (or burqua, kafiyeh, etc.) at the local mosque.
I've looked into the Canada Health Act. I was wrong. JB is correct.
Keep working hard, Canadians- we're now funding this evil little dwarf's medical care. And the welfare to keep the entire useless family alive.
But for the Hyppocratic oath, I'd just turn him over to a surgeon who lost a relative on 9/11, and let justice be done on the operating table...
At least, Bob Runciman (ex-Ont. Sol. Gen.) has been making noises about this travesty. We'll see where it goes.