Let me put it in the context. After 9/11, the world power panicked. It was the first time it had actually been attacked in its homeland, and it was found vulnerable--although that's not exactly true, because we attacked it twice and won--in 1775 and 1812. Of course, they came to Canada and burned down Toronto, but I'm from Montreal, so that didn't bother me too much. But we went to Washington and burned that place down.
Essentially the world power panicked. In panicking, it is doing exactly what the extremists and terrorists are doing. They don't want to play by the rules. All the humanitarian laws, laws of armed conflict that were established over centuries, have been pushed aside, including the conventions that protect our own people--never mind how our people face the enemy forces or non-combatants. They pushed that aside because the other side wasn't playing by the rules. So they introduced the Patriot Act. They introduced the possibility even of the use of torture. They throw away conventions to achieve what they think will be successful against this threat.
If you have to turn your country into a police state and work outside international programs that have been established as the rule of law, then aren't you no better than the other gang? If in my estimation they are no better than the other gang in how they are facing this threat, then it is absolutely essential that we pull any Canadian, be they a child soldier or an adult, out of that system and bring them back home.
Hopefully one day that panic in the United States will bring back a logic so they can play within the rules and achieve their aim of security, with our help.