Guantanamo Bay

The Supreme Court of Canada handed down its ruling Friday in the case of Omar Khadr, a Canadian child soldier who was captured by US forces in Afghanistan during a fire fight that left one US medical officer dead. Instead of being returned to Canadian authorities, Khadr, then only 15, was sent to Guantanamo Bay where he suffered interrogation and threats of torture.

As 2009 fades into history the urge for anyone with access to a media outlet is to compile some sort of year-end list. I am not going to put together a list of top stories or year end awards, but in the column below I am going to highlight seven stories that I think deserved more attention than they received, either because they challenged the conventional wisdom in international affairs, help to explain where our world is or where it may be heading, or, in the case of the science story at the end, because it is just too bizarre not to note. So without further ado, here is my humble year-end collection:


The US Navy, Climate Change Believers

I had a sinking feeling in my stomach this week when the Canadian Federal Government and Prime Minister Harper's Conservatives voted to bury an inquiry into the abuse and transfer of Afghan detainees. It isn't the first time our military has been accused of a human rights scandal during peacekeeping missions and the move to postpone the inquiry suggests the government wants nothing more than to stop the flow of information and deflect any kind of responsibility.

On May 21 Big Media and the Internet went bananas over the dueling rhetoric of President Barack Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney. Nevermind the nuances of their respective arguments on whether or not (or how) to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay and keep our country safe from terrorists, news and information outlets were more interested in the heavy weight fight theme than anything.