Only in Canada, you say? Pity.
Remember that old tea advertisement where the snooty Englishman reluctantly took a sip and then responded, "Only in Canada you say? Pity." Well, the "only in Canada" line could also apply to a letter the Canadian Bar Association sent this week to Prime Minister Stephen Harper demanding that he intervene to bring accused Canadian terrorist suspect Omar Khadr home from a military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Only in Canada, alas, could a young man accused of killing an American soldier in combat be himself turned into the victim.

Only in Canada, where anti-Americanism can be found in the strangest of places, could a gang of high-priced lawyers argue that the fact that Omar - a member of Canada's royal family of terrorists (Khadr's father had direct ties to Osama bin-Laden) could these people argue that his imprisonment is even "more urgent" because Khadr was 15 at the time he was captured after the Americans say he tossed a hand grenade which killed U.S. Army Sergeant Christopher Speer during a battle between American troops and al- Qaeda fighters.

Never mind that the hand grenade could have just as easily killed a Canadian soldier involved in the fighting in Afghanistan.

Never mind there's a terrorist war going on, that Canadians are volunteering to fight the Khadr's of the world and many of them have made the ultimate sacrifice in doing so.

Oh no, all that matters to these elite lawyers - who are supposedly trained to hear more than one side of an argument - is that they could barely move quickly enough to turn Khadr into the victim immediately after hearing a speech - no doubt totally dispassionate - from Khadr's American lawyer Lieutenant-Commander William Kuebler, who flew from Washington to Calgary to address the bar association.

Kuebler, obviously adept at playing the sympathy card, told everybody that the when he visits Khadr the prisoner, now 20, is regularly "chained to the floor during visits."

What he most likely means by that, but wouldn't put it this way, is that Khadr's leg chain is attached to the floor. If, as the Americans believe, this man is a dedicated Islamic terrorist who has already killed one of their own soldiers, it's kind of understandable that they'd take precautions don't you think?

Kuebler even went on to claim that the last time he saw Khadr he asked for crayons and papers, and indication he is anything but an adult. Oh please.

If the charges against him are true - and there's considerable evidence against him - he was adult enough to fight for al-Qaeda and kill for the cause.

During his speech he kept referring to Khadr as a "child." Some child. Then there's the bar association's president Parker MacCarthy, who declared after listening to Khadr's lawyer spin his tale that the association should have intervened earlier. "I think that, to a certain extent, we may have been lulled into a sense that what was taking place (at Guantanamo) had some basis in fairness," he said.

Fairness? Is listening to an advocate of one side and then totally condemning the other side his idea of fairness? If there is no fairness and no justice in these proceedings how is it that the military even bothers to appoint a defence for Khadr and allows him to go wherever he wants drumming up support for his client?

The bar association wrote that, "Khadr should be released into the custody of Canadian law enforcement officials to face due process under Canadian law."

That's certainly what Khadr and his lawyer want to happen. If I were in their position I'd want the same thing.

"It would be unimaginable that this could happen to a 15-year-old in Canada," said MacKay.

He's right about that. And that, dear hearts, is the problem. That is precisely why his lawyer wants him tried here and why Harper should not buckle under to this latest round of pressure attempting to make the Americans and not Khadr the villains of the piece.

Khadr is a Canadian citizen but his crimes - or at this point, alleged crimes - had nothing to do with Canada. They took place in far off Afghanistan.

And even if he did manage to get into a Canadian court - which is overpopulated by the knee-jerk liberalism characterized in the association's letter to Harper - he'd likely end up serving a weekend or two in a wellappointed hostel of his choice.

So why wouldn't he want to be tried in Canada? Everybody wants that. He just doesn't happen to deserve it.

Maybe the bar association should have invited the family of Christopher Speer to their conference to see how they feel about. But hey, why seek the other side when the side you like makes such good copy?

Only in Canada, eh? Pity.