Great White North Alert!
The NY Times is reporting Canadian Held in Afghanistan Over Killing of U.S. Soldier:

A Canadian teenager accused of killing an American medic while fighting with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan is being held there by the United States, Canadian officials say.

The Canadian government has requested that Washington allow its consular officials to interview the 15-year-old, Omar Khadr, but the Bush administration refused permission this week.

Mr. Khadr was born in Canada, and accounts of his immigrant family's activities in radical Muslim politics have embarrassed the government as it works to tighten security in its immigration policy.

Mr. Khadr's 20-year-old brother, Abdul Rahman, who was born in Bahrain, was seized by Northern Alliance forces, the United States' allies, while fighting with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan in November. Their father, Ahmed Said Khadr, an Egyptian-born Canadian citizen considered by Canadian intelligence officials to be a close associate of Osama bin Laden, is believed to be hiding in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

Canadian officials said Omar Khadr was badly wounded and captured on July 27 in the Afghan village of Ab Khail, near the Pakistan border, after a four-hour gun battle in which Sgt. First Class Christopher J. Speer died; American officials believe that he was killed by a grenade thrown by Mr. Khadr.

...

"The battle was over, and this kid popped up and threw a grenade..."

After interrogation, a firing squad. What's the problem? The Canadian "government" of course.

Mr. Khadr is still being held in Afghanistan, according to Canadian officials, who say they have been kept abreast of his condition by the Red Cross and informally by the United States.

The officials said they sent Washington a diplomatic note on Aug. 30 asking permission for a consular meeting with the youth, but that in its reply on Monday, the United States would not even acknowledge that it was holding him.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry said the government "is concerned that a Canadian juvenile has been detained, and believes that this individual's age be taken into account in determining treatment."

Old enough to kill, old enough to die.

Mr. Khadr's father, who arrived in Canada in 1977, worked for Islamic charitable causes that funneled money to Afghan forces fighting the Soviet Union in the 1980's, intelligence officials said. In 1992 in Afghanistan, the father sustained shrapnel wounds that he claimed were suffered while doing relief work. He returned to Canada for medical treatment.

The father, now 54, was arrested in 1995 in Pakistan on suspicion of involvement in the bombing of the Egyptian Embassy, an attack attributed to Al Jihad, an Egyptian chapter of Al Qaeda, that killed 17 people. Forty thousand dollars in cash was found in his house.

A month later Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, while on a state visit, asked Pakistan's prime minister at the time, Benazir Bhutto, to see that Mr. Khadr receive just treatment as a Canadian citizen. Mr. Khadr was released shortly afterward and returned to Toronto.

Surprise, it's our old pal Cretin! But not everyone in the Great White North has lost their senses.

The American capture of Omar Khadr and press reports of his family's activities have led opposition leaders to question whether Canada's immigration policies, which have promoted the settlement of foreigners in the country to spur population growth, are sufficiently secure.

Stephen Harper, leader of the center-right Canadian Alliance party in Parliament, said the reports had underscored his concerns about "Canada being a platform for activities that are dangerous to the Western alliance."

More than 20 Canadians have been either arrested or sought by international law enforcement for involvement in Al Qaeda in the last several years. They had lived in Montreal and around Toronto and Vancouver, cities with large immigrant populations. Many operated internationally as well.

Mohamed Mansour Jabarah, 20, from a town southwest of Toronto, was recently arrested in Oman and accused of involvement in a foiled plot to bomb the American and Israeli Embassies in Singapore. Canadian officials handed him over to United States authorities. Amine Mezbar, an Algerian-born resident of Montreal, was arrested in June on charges that he played a part in a plot to bomb the American Embassy in Paris.

Canada has responded to the Sept. 11 attacks by reinforcing security at border points, investigating applicants for political refugee status and stiffening security in the processing of passports. New antiterrorism legislation has given law enforcement agencies greater latitude to use wiretaps, seize suspects and confiscate assets in terrorism investigations.

Well, it's a start, but Canada's wide open "asylum" door let's anybody in indefinitely if they simply throw away any identification. As for Cretin, it's clear he's lost whatever clues he had.