Guantánamo's Last Days

"The only thing that's certain is that if he's released, he will need a lot of help integrating into society."

Edney has a rehabilitation plan already in place. He wants Khadr to move in with him and enroll at a nearby college. He also plans to assemble a team of Muslim clerics to help re-educate the young man.

Barry Bland

The interrogation rooms at Camp X-Ray, where many believe waterboarding and other torture-like interrogation techniques were first used in Guantánamo.

AP Photo/Janet Hamlin

Omar Khadr was 15 and near-death when captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan in 2002. The Toronto-born Canadian citizen is accused of throwing a grenade that blinded one soldier and killed another.

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• Omar Khadr
• Al Qaeda
• Guantanamo Bay
• War and Conflict
• Terrorism

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Khadr's family has other plans. His mother recently said that the family dreams of starting a farm upon his return. They will raise animals, she says, "far away from the pressure of the media and the pressure of the community who are so confused about our life."

Back in Salt Lake City, Layne Morris isn't buying any of it. He points out that one of Khadr's sisters has publicly advocated jihad, and that one of his brothers has admitted smuggling weapons to Al-Qaeda and plotting to kill the Pakistani prime minister. Most recently, Khadr's family showed up at a Toronto courtroom to show solidarity with a terrorist cell accused of planning to use truck bombs to blow up buildings in the city's downtown.

"People have a short attention span, I guess," Morris says. "9/11 was what, seven years ago? And already we forget about what we lost. I'm not complaining. There's so many other guys who made greater sacrifices than I have. Christopher Speer had a wife and two very young children, and that speaks for itself.

"Omar Khadr? People say he's a confused kid, but he knew exactly what he was doing," Morris continues. "The way I see it, he should stay in jail for as long as he remains a threat to America."