OTTAWA - A lawyer for a Canadian terror suspect released weeks ago from a U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba says officials in Ottawa are "lying through their teeth" and keeping him in the dark about information regarding his client.
Rocco Galati was responding to the Prime Minister's Office statement that the government learned about Abdulrahman Khadr's release to Afghanistan weeks ago.
He said the family was never informed about his release and that Khadr has been shunned by Canadian consular officials who refuse to help him return to Canada. [Heavens! Terrible! We must make amends! NJC]
"If they knew he was released, why didn't they petition to have him brought back here," Galati told CBC.ca.
"The government hasn't returned any of my calls since Monday. Why don't they phone and contact me and give me some information," he said.
Khadr, 20, who was sent to Afghanistan late last month, was arrested there as part of a roundup of suspected al-Qaeda members after the fall of the Taliban in November 2001
PMO spokesman Steven Hogue refused to comment as to why Khadr's family was not informed about his release.
"It appears that Mr. Khadr chose not to come back to Canada," he said, adding there's no record of Khadr going to any embassy to get his passport and that he can return to Canada anytime.
[. . . .]
He said he was glad to hear that Paul Martin made similar comments Tuesday that Khadr was welcome back to Canada but "he should check with his department officials. They're lying through their teeth to him."
My Commentary:
Paul Martin, you don't speak for me when you say this kid is welcome back to Canada. Why on earth would Canadians want this kid returned to Canada? He is, from all reports, from the Khadr family of Al Qaeda members. But that is not the spirit of Multicult is it? Canada has its own variation on the United States' welcome "Bring me your tired and your weary . . . .". In Canada, our government welcomes with "Bring me your violent, your terrorists, your ignorant and uneducated, your welfare deadbeats, your liars and your cheats, your gang members and their guns . . . . ". You get the drill. And Khadr's lawyer (Who pays his bills, anyway? Taxpayers?) has the nerve to say this?
Nota Bene:
***"If they knew he was released, why didn't they petition to have him brought back here," Galati told CBC.ca.***
Note that he is speaking to the CBC. I wonder why. NJC
