Kevin Vickers and Omar Khadr

 Kevin Vickers is the House of Commons Sergeant-At-Arms who shot and killed the parliamentary shooter Zehaf-Bibeau on Parliament Hill on Oct 22. 

 

Omar Khadr is the Canadian born foreign fighter who killed USMC Medic Christopher Speer in Afghanistan 13 years ago.

What do they have to do with each other? 

Yesterday Kevin Vickers spoke at Mount Allison University. He had this to say about Zehaf-Bibeau:

[I thought of my father who had taught me that] “regardless how repulsive the crime, you always respect the dignity of the person." 

 And with this thought, Vickers prayed for Zehaf-Bibeau.

I see a lot of people who like to polarize the Omar Khadr case. The view goes something like, “by being sympathetic towards Khadr you are ignoring the victim, Christopher Speer, and his family.”

No. This is simply mistaken. All one is doing it respecting the dignity of Khadr. This is not exclusive to being empathic towards the victim.

Thank you, Mr. Vickers, for your compassion and your eloquence. And, for defending Parliament on that day in which you “bumped up against history.”