All of the Globe's defenses of the Khadr settlement ignore the historical context.

First, the events occurred in the near aftermath to a certain event in New York City in which Al Qaeda played a significant role. Anyone on the Globe editorial staff remember 9/11 and the more than three thousand innocent people who died in it?

Do you think that in the aftermath of that horror all western governments may have  been worried about further attacks and determined to glean whatever information they could about Al Qaeda operatives when and however they could? 

In addition, Canada had troops on the ground in Afghanistan when Mr. Khadr was arrested. Given that he had experience in building IEDs and knew many members of Al Qaeda there was a pressing security rationale for interrogating him. Indeed, one could say that Canada's duty to its troops on the ground, many of whom were either killed or grievously wounded by IED's, made it imperative to interrogate him.