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Bringing 'Em Back or Not? (I.D.'ed Cdn ISIS fighters, families, kids?)

Questions to ponder about the former ISIS fighters.

1) Had they won would they want to come back home and live with the unwashed, or would they want to live in their self made kingdom of what ever? Rest of the world would call it hell on earth I am sure.

2) Since they all volunteered to go and they flew there, hitched rides, lied their way there, why is up to the Canadian Government to bring them back? Went on their own dime, let them come back home on their own dime? They must of been well paid after all ISIS was making money to buy equipment, and feed the troops, video feeds, on line presence etc, all black market money I know but where is the money?

3) If these family members are so concerned now about their safety, why did they not try and stop them from going over there? Not much of a family values before they went and lost .Being concerned after the fact is compelling but not enough for me to raise a thought to email my MP to ask for help on their behalf. ( selfish maybe)

4) Once they are bought back, does Canadian Law cover them their crimes over seas? War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity? Do we want to pay to detain and hold them in jail for their crimes? Or does our leader pay them for their harsh treatment by another country and treatment under the other country's laws? How much is it worth this time around?

5) Does the neighbours of their families want them come live next door again, they will always wonder if the former ISIS fighter is going to snap today, and who is going to bear the attack.

Just my thoughts.
A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.
 
commit a crime go to jail. I am sure there are or were laws being broken here in Canada, and over there. Let the lawyers over there sort it out then maybe we can do something
 


There are a few things about these types of articles that bug me:

a) “It is unclear if Ottawa knew that the US would be taking Mr. Khalifa into custody”

So as the reporter of the article, you are basically saying you don’t know if Ottawa was aware or not. So why bother writing it? The RCMP National Security Division has constant communication with the FBI Counter Terror Division (constant as in daily.)

I’m sure the folks on this file were well aware. Whether they briefed some bureaucrat about it, who knows.



b) “We shouldn’t be relying on the FBI to repatriate Canadians for us, in this manner.”

We didn’t ask the FBI to repatriate this person, nor were we relying on them to bring this person back to North America. This person is not someone in distress the same way a hostage would be, we weren’t relying on the FBI to rescue them and bring them home.

They are an admitted member of ISIS, and our government chose to not give a shit about their well-being. (I am usually very frustrated by the federal government in action on many things, but in this case I am finding it hard to really care to be honest.)



c) When government agencies refer questions to each other, don’t provide strong statements, etc - it eats away at public confidence, and gives the appearance of poor leadership.

How difficult is it to make a broad yet vague statement akin to what the FBI said on the matter?

“Anybody who participates in terrorism or terrorist activities, or supports terrorist activities in any way, will absolutely be held accountable. We have coordinated this file with our American colleagues, and Mr. Khalifa was brought to the United States to be prosecuted.”

Boom - it’s that easy to maintain public confidence in our agencies, and not appear to be a bumbling idiot.
 
How Germany's handling one of their cases ....
A Munich court on Monday sentenced a German woman, who had allowed a young Yazidi girl to die of thirst, to 10 years in prison after finding her guilty of supporting Islamic State militants in Iraq, aiding and abetting attempted murder, attempted war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Prosecutors had accused the 30-year-old woman, identified as Jennifer W. in court documents, of joining the militant group in 2014 and integrating herself into the decision-making and command structure of the group.

The woman was accused of letting a 5-year-old enslaved Yazidi girl die of thirst after her husband, an Islamic State fighter, chained the child up in a courtyard without protection from the scorching heat as punishment for wetting her mattress, prosecutors said ...
a) “It is unclear if Ottawa knew that the US would be taking Mr. Khalifa into custody”

So as the reporter of the article, you are basically saying you don’t know if Ottawa was aware or not. So why bother writing it? ...
I can't read minds, but that section can also be read as, "nobody we've talked to wants to say out loud if Canada knew about charges being laid in the U.S. I'm going to guess someone at some level "knew," too, but admitting it would maybe show their hand too much - or give defence counsel (who seems to contend that Canadians should be tried in a Canadian system) some ammo. That's why you won't be likely to hear anything as clear and reasonably unambiguous as this ....
“Anybody who participates in terrorism or terrorist activities, or supports terrorist activities in any way, will absolutely be held accountable. We have coordinated this file with our American colleagues, and Mr. Khalifa was brought to the United States to be prosecuted.”

Boom - it’s that easy to maintain public confidence in our agencies, and not appear to be a bumbling idiot.
"Bumbling" can also be in the eye of the beholder, too -- those who would hear that and say, "we're going to let the Americans hold people accountable for us?" might not see that as a statement instilling public confidence in Canadian agencies and processes.
 
How Germany's handling one of their cases ....


I can't read minds, but that section can also be read as, "nobody we've talked to wants to say out loud if Canada knew about charges being laid in the U.S. I'm going to guess someone at some level "knew," too, but admitting it would maybe show their hand too much - or give defence counsel (who seems to contend that Canadians should be tried in a Canadian system) some ammo. That's why you won't be likely to hear anything as clear and reasonably unambiguous as this ....

"Bumbling" can also be in the eye of the beholder, too -- those who would hear that and say, "we're going to let the Americans hold people accountable for us?" might not see that as a statement instilling public confidence in Canadian agencies and processes.
Happy Monday, Bread Guy ☺️

- Agreed very much so about Canadian agencies staying mute on the matter, as it could give defence counsel options/ammo.


- I was thinking more or less as a generality (about public statements), rather than just this specific case.

Having various government agencies basically say “We don’t have this information, please forward your questions to insert agency here.” And then having that agency also more or less play dumb - doesn’t inspire confidence, even if it is beyond said that way quite deliberately.

The clear and unambiguous statements are more or less standard talk for most press releases, press conferences, address to the nation, etc.

Strongly oppose terrorism and violence, while also quietly preaching our values, is something the average Joe Public can hear and feel good about.

It’s not like the government doesn’t use basically watermark/robotic responses to almost any other issue.


Either way, I totally agree with your points 👍🏻
 
... The clear and unambiguous statements are more or less standard talk for most press releases, press conferences, address to the nation, etc.
(...)
It’s not like the government doesn’t use basically watermark/robotic responses to almost any other issue ...
When it comes to almost all government writing, though, it's often that second bit that leads to a shortage of that first bit #AccuracyBrevityClarityPickAnyTwo :D
 
One of 'em coming back to Canada ...
The lawyer for a Canadian woman who spent two years in Syrian prison camps said Friday he’s trying to help get her home from Iraq after Ottawa agreed to give her an emergency travel document.

Lawyer Paul Champ said he is working with Global Affairs Canada to get authorization from Kurdish officials in northern Iraq for her departure and to identify an appropriate flight.

In a letter Thursday to Champ, a Justice Canada official said the Immigration Department had authorized the issuance of a travel document for the woman, who cannot be publicly named due to a judge’s confidentiality order.

Global Affairs Canada will provide the woman “a viable itinerary option for her travel to Canada,” the Justice letter said.

“It is the individual’s responsibility to purchase an air ticket, at personal expense, and to provide the confirmed itinerary to GAC, noting that it will be important that your client wait for GAC confirmation of the specific date of travel prior to purchasing an air ticket.”

The development comes after the woman asked the Federal Court to compel Ottawa to give her an emergency document so she could return home ...
 
Bring them back they said, it will be fine they said, they aren't a threat they said. ....

Who said it’ll be ‘fine’, in the sense of ‘bring them home and wash our hands- we’re done’? I don’t think any credible voice has ever said there won’t be a need to continue to monitor anyone coming back who is suspected of radicalism.

I’m speculating here, but the fact that this includes mention of ‘war crimes’ suggests that this investigation is one that predates her return, as opposed to offending alleged to have happened since she came back to Canada.
 
CANCIT “Abu Ridwan al-Kanadi” - Mohammed Khalifa - has been charged by the US and brought to Virginia in FBI custody. This is a big development.

This guy was the English language “voice of ISIS”. Anyone who’s seen any of their slick propaganda videos - particularly Flames of War and its sequel - has heard this guy. He’s been in Kurdish custody for a while now.

This could be one of the most prominent ISIS foreign fighter trials to come.

Latest on this dude from the US DoJ ...
 
He'll be back in Canada in under five years and sign up for the $10mil relocation benefit.
 
No. No he won’t. He was facing investigation and likely prosecution here had the Americans not gotten him first.


Interesting…
But it also suggests that, unlike its international policing partners, the RCMP has not sent its own investigators to Syria to interview the Canadian suspects, and has instead relied on interviews conducted by journalists.

At first I thought “Hunh?”

Then I recalled if information provided by journalists (especially heavily state-funded) is good enough for the Canadian government to enact the Emergencies Act, then info provided by journalists to the RCMP should result in a slam dunk prosecution of Khalifa.
 
Interesting…


At first I thought “Hunh?”

Then I recalled if information provided by journalists (especially heavily state-funded) is good enough for the Canadian government to enact the Emergencies Act, then info provided by journalists to the RCMP should result in a slam dunk prosecution of Khalifa.
Speaking only speculatively, an investigative interview of someone held in a Kurdish prisoner camp would be absolutely worthless for a prosecution in Canadian courts. You’d be setting the defence up for a slam dunk argument that the statement was not given voluntarily or freely, and that the suspect felt coercion from the Kurds to provide the statement. Custodial suspect statements call for a lot of caution to protect legal admissibility.

Anything someone says to investigators overseas they can say if and when they end up back in Canada, and Canadian authorities would be in a position to make sure that the suspect cannot argue coercion. We don’t have that luxury for people in foreign custody.

America has very different standards of evidentiary admissibility than we do. They get away with some ridiculous stuff.
 
Less cynically-minded, and more seriously questioning, how then does Canada make the case remotely to charge Khalifa and take him into custody and bring him to Canada for prosecution?
 
That’s really only just ruling out seeking a confession from a suspect in a Kurdish prison camp. Speaking generally, there are many different ways to investigate terrorism offences for Canadians who travel overseas to do extremist stuff.

Khalifa was probably the most prominent, but he’s not the only Canadian foreign fighter in custody. I have some notion of how these might generally play out- but only a notion, and only generally. It’ll always depend on the fact set and the admissible evidence in any individual case. I suspect we’ll see movement when privately retained lawyers force the government’s hand on repatriation. That’ll start with the ISIS wives.
 
I’m interested in what this traitor has to say about Canada now he’s in a US prison. I say let him ROT
 
He also wasn't born in Canada, so perhaps we will see him stripped of his citizenship the next time we have a Conservative Government.
 
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