I was truly dismayed when I read Matt Diederichs, and then Maggie Clayton’s letters (Gazette, Oct. 18). Full disclosure: I have not seen the “offending literature” from MP Michael Cooper. What I certainly have seen though is how over-the-top angry many people from the left seem to become as soon as their world view is challenged in the least. Talk about inflammatory rhetoric … words they used in their letters … hate, incredulous, gross, misrepresentation, shameful, slander, stupidity, treason, appalling. In Mr. Diederichs' case … I thought the role of a teacher was to present facts and information in an unbiased, truthful way which allowed your students to come to their own conclusions. What right do you have to present events, ideas … solely from your point of view? And not entirely factual either? Shame on you. In Ms. Clayton’s case … some might find giving $10.5 million to Khadr “pandering.” This case was botched from the beginning by several governments. None can truly claim that their hands were clean ... but let’s not forget which government it was that brought Father Khadr back to Canada in the ’90s. Or which government was in power for the first four years that Khadr was held captive. It was during those years that the torture and interrogations supposedly took place. Yet somehow … this is all Harper’s fault? I have read pretty much all I can find concerning this case from many sources. I have come to the conclusion that unless you were an eyewitness to the action that there is no way to know what truly happened. What we do know for certain is Khadr was born into a family that never really showed any loyalty to the good life they had in Canada but basically used our generosity, and health services, as a stepping stone to go back and fight against us and our American allies. I’ve seen videos of Omar Khadr making bombs with friends … the same type of IEDs which killed Canadian soldiers. Fast forward and I would agree with many that this man really didn’t have much of a chance. Being born a Khadr was not his fault. That combined with the fact that he did more jail time than many Canadian criminals – and seemed to genuinely want to get on with his life and be left alone – led me to be okay with him becoming a free man. But too many wrongs don’t make a right. My feelings changed when this government decided not only did he deserve his freedom, but $10.5 million as well. I can find no justification for this payment. And over time I have become cynical enough to believe that it was made simply to avoid a court case. A court case that would likely drag on into 2019 and be prominent during the next election. I’m sure Trudeau and company could see this as maybe becoming their “Duffy”… and wanted to avoid that at all costs. Shame on them. Linda Nichol, St. Albert
