Former Utah soldier calls Khadr settlement “outrageous”

RIVERTON – A retired Utah Army Reserve soldier is angry with the Canadian government for issuing an apology and reaching a multi-million dollar settlement with a man once detained at Guantanamo Bay.

Listen to an extended portion of our interview with Layne Morris

Layne Morris lost sight in his right eye after an attack in Afghanistan in 2002, and a medic in his task force was killed.  The man accused of throwing the grenade at his group is Omar Khadr, who was just awarded $10.5 million dollars in a settlement with Canadian officials, and given an apology for any possible mistreatment he may have gone through while at Gitmo.

Morris calls the settlement and the apology outrageous.

“[The Khadr] family is known in Canada as ‘the first family in terrorism.  His family owes humanity an apology,” he says.

Morris is accusing Canada of coddling and supporting the Khadr family, who he says is deeply entrenched in terrorist groups.  He predicts the settlement will go toward funding more attacks on civilians.

Morris adds, “You could really make a case that the Canadian government is doing their very best to support Al Qaeda in this effort.”

He also takes offense with Khadr being depicted as “a child soldier” who was a minor when he aided in the attack in Afghanistan.  Morris says a child soldier is normally a kid who has been taken from his home and brainwashed into fighting for a warlord against their will.  He says Khadr is the opposite, and is in fact a privileged person who has had a chance to live in many places around the world.

“That’s not a child soldier.  That’s just a bad kid.”

In the meantime, Morris is still involved in lawsuits against Khadr which could add up to hundreds of millions of dollars. He hopes these lawsuits will make a serious dent in the funding terrorist groups receive.

“It takes all of us doing our part to deny these people the victory, and, part of that is financially.  We need to bleed them dry,” he says.