Most fifteen year old Canadian boys have likely just completed their first year of high school. Some were probably anxious about being good enough to get selected to the various athletic teams that the school had to offer. Some no doubt were worried about being “cool” and worked the proper social channels to be accepted by their peers. Most were likely enamoured with getting the attention of the pretty girls in their grade. Some probably harboured inner fears of getting picked on or bullied by other boys. One particular fifteen year Canadian old boy did not get to look back on his first year of high school and smile at his successes and frown upon his failures. He did not get to enjoy the camaraderie of his team-mates on a sports team or enjoy the exhilaration of his first high school dance. This particular boy had to worry about interrogators, torture and death.
Omar Khadr was captured in a small town in Afghanistan near the Pakistani border on July 27, 2002 after the compound he was staying at was surrounded by US soldiers. The soldiers approached the compound after receiving intelligence that some Taliban fighters were located in the area and a firefight ensued leaving four of Khadr’s compatriots dead. During the chaos that had erupted, Khadr allegedly lobbed a grenade that killed Sgt. First Class Christopher Speer and injured two others. Khadr was subsequently shot three times and left partially blinded in one eye by some shrapnel that was lodged into his head rendering him unconscious. According to documents filed by Khadr’s lawyers, he was interrogated as soon as he regained consciousness and was refused pain medication for his wounds.
He was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in October of 2002 where he was continuously tortured in order to extract military intelligence from him. He alleges that he was left shackled in an interrogation room for hours until he urinated on himself and the floor. Guards poured a Pine Sol like liquid all over him and used him as a human mop to clean the mess. He was not given a change of clothes for forty eight hours. He states that he was mercilessly beaten by guards on a number of occasions and threatened with rape. He was kept in rooms that were extremely cold and where bright lights were kept on for twenty fours a day making sleeping extremely difficult. He was shackled, trampled and twisted into positions that would have made any Eastern Bloc gymnast proud.
The Bush Administration has ignored the protocols of the Geneva Convention by taking him into custody when he was only fifteen years old. They have determined that a child who tried to fight off soldiers from a foreign, invading army that entered the country uninvited is guilty of murder while nobody is held accountable for the civilian deaths that continue to mount in Afghanistan. Sheko Sheikoleslami, a legal advocate for Khadr argues that, “regardless of his status, whether he was a civilian, a combatant or unlawful combatant, the US is simply isn’t respecting the minimal guarantees of due process and protection of children that it owes him.” Khadr, now twenty years old, had charges of conspiracy to commit war crimes, attempted murder, murder and aiding the enemy confirmed by the American Government on April 24, 2007.
As many twenty year old Canadian boys have just completed their first year of College or University, they can look ahead to their futures into the fields and professions that have chosen to pursue. Many will look back at their first year away from home relishing the many experiences and adventures they had with their friends and companions. Some will cherish the rite of passage just completed along with pub crawls and the conquests of young woman in the school dormitories. Some will go back to their respective homes for the summer eagerly longing to return in the fall, back to the laughter of their friends or gentle touch from their loved one. None however will be locked up in dingy, filthy, putrid cell in an unknown country not being able to converse or share jokes with friends or hear the loving, encouraging words of family members. Not knowing what time or date it ever is, this particular Canadian boy has no future as a trial before a military commission in Guantanamo Bay is set to begin in August of 2007 which will subsequently mark the first such war crimes trial conducted by the US since WWII.
Max De Luca is a freelance writer who lives in London, Ontario Canada. His short stories and articles have appeared in such publications as the Istanbul Literature Review, Inscribed Magazine and Mobius: A Journal for Social Change. He is influenced by the work of Kurt Vonnegut Jr, Hunter S Thompson and Howard Zinn. Read other posts by Max De Luca.
