Welcome Back Khadr

When they created a monster
They did a helluva job
They took a little kid and they taught him how to build a bomb
It could’ve been you
It could’ve happened to me
it was a Canadian son in a land of hostilities

Let’s welcome
Welcome back Khadr

Did they teach him to hate
Did they train him to kill
Were they screaming jihad just as the bombs above them fell
When the soldiers found him
shrapnel had left him blind
Then they put two bullets in his back
It’s a miracle our boy is still alive

Let’s welcome
Welcome back Khadr
Welcome back

In bloody orange jumpsuits
in Guantanamo
They’re caged like animals and Omar just cries for home
But it was a one-way ticket
into this black hole
The Harper regime turned their back
When the rest were rescuing their own

Let’s welcome
Welcome back Khadr

This is a call for compassion and who can blame
child soldiers for being child soldiers
With a soft will so easy to break, children tragically make
child soldiers, child soldiers
Great pains are taken to rescue and undo the damage done to
child soldiers, child soldiers
Target the people who indoctrinate and charge the people who train child soldiers but NOT the child soldiers

So Canada’s complicit in America’s vice
violence begets violence with no end in sight
we fuel the fires of al Qaida’s rage
you know anyone who’s been wronged
wants justice just the same
To those still sneering like really who cares
Try Amnesty, try UNICEF, try Romeo Dallaire
So we created a monster
Well let’s show them once and for all
That we in Canada believe that love can rebuild after any fall

Let’s welcome, Welcome back Khadr
It’s been too long, Little child soldier
We’re so sorry, Little man Khadr
Welcome back

From the Album, Does Not Equal (≠), released 18 September 2020

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