I was glad to see that most of the news outlets and newspapers are making a big thing out of the return to Canada of Omar Khadr, the child soldier. The way the Harper government announced the decision on a Saturday morning suggested that they really hoped nobody would notice. That's the way this government does things: when it might get bad press and stir up things, it just plays it low. But when it wants to send a message, you can be sure that all the flags will be out waving. Take the closing of Canada's embassy to Iran and the expelling of Iranian diplomats here earlier this month. That was done very early on a Friday morning (the announcement was made when Foreign Affairs Minister James Baird was in Russia at a conference that was well covered by foreign and Canadian media. The lead time allowed comments on Friday here, and analysis in the weekend newspapers.
But perhaps the shame of letting a young man (who was a boy when the story began) rot in Guantanmo will be properly considered after all. (The photo is of Khadr at 14, a year before he went to Afghanistan.)
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