Khadr’s Home in Fact and Reality was Not Canada.

Khadr born in Canada, Homed and Lived in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Born in 1986 and that same year moved to Pakistan to live.

After 10 years in Pakistan or elsewhere he returned to Canada in 1996, until his father was released thanks to media and political pressure.

Then Khadr, after homing in Pakistan for the first ten years of his life since birth, once again, after less than one year left Canada that same year of his arrival in 1986 with his father and others to live in Afghanistan at the home Osama bin Laden’s Taliban compound.

Thus for myself and perhaps millions of Canadians, in fact, and reality, his home was never truly Canada even though he was physically born in Canada. 

Thanks to the Canadian Press and Star here is a look at the long odyssey of this Canadian born individual:

Sept. 19, 1986: Omar Khadr is born in Toronto but lives with family in Pakistan until 1995.

1995: Khadr’s father is arrested in connection with the bombing of the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad but is freed after then-prime minister, Jean Chrétien raises the arrest with Pakistani counterpart Benazir Bhutto.

1996: After briefly returning to Canada, the family moves to Jalalabad in Taliban-controlled eastern Afghanistan, where they live in Osama bin Laden’s compound.

1996: The Khadr brothers begin attending weapons training camps affiliated with the Taliban and bin Laden. The family makes annual trips to Canada to raise money and collect supplies.

1999: The family moves to Kabul.

October 2001: The U.S. begins military operations in Afghanistan in response to Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

November 2001: The U.S.-backed Northern Alliance rebels chase the Taliban out of Kabul. Omar Khadr flees to his father in Logar, Afghanistan.

June 2002: After training on AK-47s, Soviet PKs and rocket-propelled grenades, Khadr, 15, works as a translator for Al Qaeda and conducts a surveillance mission.

July 27, 2002: Two Afghan government soldiers are killed and several U.S. troops sustain injuries as coalition forces move in on Khadr’s compound. Khadr throws a grenade that kills U.S. Sgt. 1st Class, Christopher Speer. Khadr is injured in the melee.

October 2002: Khadr is transferred to Guantanamo Bay.

February 2003: Investigators from the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) interview Khadr at Guantanamo.

March 2004: Khadr’s grandmother, Fatmah Elsamnah, launches a lawsuit against the Department of Foreign Affairs, alleging Ottawa failed to protect her grandson’s rights as a Canadian. Elsamnah later launches a similar suit against the U.S. authorities.

Aug. 10, 2005: A Federal Court judge says Canadian agencies, including CSIS, are violating Khadr’s Charter rights by turning information gleaned in interviews over to the U.S. investigators.

Nov. 7, 2005: The U.S. military charges Khadr with conspiracy, attempted murder and aiding the enemy in connection with the deadly 2002 skirmish that killed Speer.

Dec. 17, 2005: Khadr’s eldest brother, Abdullah, is arrested in Toronto for allegedly acting as an Al Qaeda go-between and supplying explosives.

February 2006: A U.S. civil court orders the Khadr family to pay $102 million to Speer’s widow and a second soldier injured in the 2002 attack.

March 17, 2008: Khadr alleges that he was threatened with rape and violence by interrogators seeking to extract a confession.

May 23, 2008: The Supreme Court of Canada concludes that Canadian officials illegally shared information about Khadr with the U.S.

July 15, 2008: Khadr’s defence counsel releases video of Khadr being interrogated by CSIS officials in 2003.

Aug. 14, 2009: Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal upholds a ruling that requires the Canadian government to press for Omar Khadr’s return from Guantanamo Bay.

Oct. 7, 2009: Lt.-Cmdr. Bill Kuebler is officially dismissed from Khadr’s legal defence team.

Jan. 29, 2010: Canada’s Supreme Court overturns court orders requiring The Canadian government must try to repatriate Khadr, despite agreeing that Khadr’s human rights are being violated.

April 29, 2010: Khadr’s defence team rejects a plea-bargain offer from U.S. military prosecutors that would have forced him to serve his sentence in a U.S. prison.

July 7, 2010: Khadr tries to fire his three American lawyers, including a military court-appointed military lawyer, saying he has no chance at a fair trial. A judge later refuses to allow it.

July 12, 2010: Ottawa pledges to fight the ruling ordering it to remedy the breach of Khadr’s constitutional rights.

Aug. 9, 2010: Khadr officially pleads not guilty to five war crimes charges, including murder, at a pre-trial hearing. Judge Col. Patrick Parrish rules Khadr’s confessions will be admissible as evidence.

Oct. 25, 2010: Amid talk of an agreement, Khadr changes his plea to guilty on all five counts; gets opportunity to apply for a transfer to a Canadian prison after one year in a U.S. facility.

Oct. 26, 2010: Jurors scheduled to attend start of Khadr sentencing hearing.

Oct. 31, 2010: Jurors sentence Khadr to 40 years in prison for war crimes but a pre-trial deal limits the actual sentenced to eight years.

May 26, 2011: The Convening Authority for Military Commissions rejects a clemency appeal filed by Khadr. The prisoner had appealed to have his sentence cut in half, arguing that improper testimony swayed the jury at his sentencing hearing.

Aug. 4, 2011: Khadr fires his long-time lawyers Dennis Edney and Nate Whitling and hires Toronto-based lawyers John Norris and Brydie Bethell.

April 2012: U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta signs off on Khadr’s transfer.

April 18, 2012: Ottawa receives an application from Khadr officially requesting a transfer to Canada from Guantanamo Bay.

July 13, 2012: Lawyers file a notice of the application in the Federal Court to ask it to review why Canada was delaying Khadr’s repatriation.

July 26, 2012: It’s revealed that Khadr tried to plead guilty to terrorism charges in Canada for speedy transfer home. The documents show that the 2008 proposal was rejected by the U.S. military.

Sept. 6, 2012: Ottawa is given videotapes and documents assessing Khadr’s mental health by American military officials. The material includes an interview of Khadr by a psychiatrist.

Sept. 29, 2012: A U.S. military airplane brings Khadr back to Canada. He is transferred to the Millhaven Institution near Kingston, Ont.

Now within less than a day, the mainstream media is calling for the release of this convicted killer from our Canadian prisons!

The question remains, did he honestly and transparently actually full-fill his obligations if any and rights to Canadian citizenship when he never truly lived or was permanently homed in Canada, even though he was born here?

Your decision!