Guantanamo Video

(see post below for link to video)

The released Guantanamo video clip (full 7 hours will be released Tuesday) isn't anything terribly shocking. No torture or even intense questioning is shown, just a crying kid sitting in a room with a questioner. We've seen far worse, with the Abu-Ghraib photos and countless allegations of torture by other detainees. We know nothing more now than we did yesterday, these videos do nothing but add to the heap of evidence we already have.

But this video is different. Khadr's lawyers are relying on the fact that any video of a crying teenager being questioned, even nonviolently, will hit the public like a sledgehammer and force the government into action through public outrage. The video ties the whole mess together, and puts the face of Omar Khadr, Canadian citizen, on the debacle. You can't watch the video and tell yourself "oh, we may go to extremes sometimes but the people locked up at Gitmo are hardened terrorists who want to kill us". The video may wind up not only saving Mr. Khadr, now 21 and facing multiple terrorism charges and the prospect of life imprisonment, but also be the straw that tips Gitmo's existence over the cliff.

Unfortunately, Canadian PM Stephen Harper has refused to demand Khadr's extradition back to Canada. Since Khadr is a Canadian citizen, you would expect Canada to rush to his defense, but he has fallen into the same legal black hole that the rest of the detainees are in. Canada's government has the obligation to protect its citizens, and although Khadr could be easily returned to Canada, he remains in Guantanamo.