Article content continued

Several of Khadr’s former adversaries are rounded up to vouch for his character, such as Damien Corsetti, an American military interrogator who first met Khadr at Bagram. The alleged torture he was subjected to at both that air base and in Guantanamo Bay is a focal point in the piece, portraying his survival under those conditions as being something heroic.

Perhaps the most disturbing part of the documentary is the whitewashing of his family’s history and ties to terrorist groups, suggesting they were little more than aid workers caught up in a turbulent time. In a new interview with Khadr’s mother, Maha Elsamnah, she portrays the family as humanitarian workers who were helping bring medicine to the needy and opening schools for children in Afghanistan.

It’s a further disappointment to see that Khadr won’t outright denouncethe comments his family made in 2004 following his detention in Guantanamo Bay, when they disparaged Canada and glorified “Jihad.”

“After Sept. 11 we were on the run,” she says, without explaining why exactly that would be the case.

Khadr explains he became a translator at the behest of his father. He continues to insist this was his only role even as the documentary airs footage of him preparing improvised explosive devices.

No one asks if he felt making explosives was a bad thing to do, what he thought about his role in the war, or whether he felt uneasy helping what were clearly Islamic Jihadis.

No one inquires whether Khadr thought he was in danger or if he understood the seriousness of his actions. It’s a glaring omission, given that he’s been portrayed as a child soldier who couldn’t have known what he was doing.