Mideast Dispatches

I think that first of all the laws of the country where the seperation/divorce/custody was decided should be the ones upheld. If it happened in Canada then Can. law holds sway, if it happens in Lebannon then the same applies.As far as people "stealing" or "kidnapping" their children, the only people that wind up suffering in a situation like that are the children and in this case two men who tried to do the right thing as they saw it. I really don't think the Canadian gov't is going to do too much for these guys they are not even Canadian citizens and the Gov't really doesn't have a legal leg to stand on in that respect. thank you.

Who's at fault? The Mother, the Father? Who really knows! I can say this, both parents are un-fit! Saddly, it's the two soliders that will end up paying for the parents temper tantrum.

Fighting over your children, please, grow up!

So Lebanonese family liars thinks the Father is the best parent and Canadian family liars think the Mother is the best parent. Well they are all wrong. The Children need both parents. In this case the children are lucky both parents love them obviously, too bad one is too selfish to share equally, Having gone through the Canadian system I know which one of them I would put my money on is that parent.

As for the two soldiers, if you break a Country's laws you pay the price if you are caught. All travelers know this and this includes Canada.

God bless the Children pawns and curses to the rest.

What I notice in all of these cases is that so little consideration is given to what the children feel. The kids welfare is important -- sure they are naive and perhaps can even be lied to successfully but they have strong feelings and minds that can accept people who consider them as beings instead of as objects to be possessed. How did the father explain to his kids why he was removing them from their mother forever? Almost certainly he lied to them. He "possesses" his children like fine china rather than behaving toward them with respect and with love. There is karma in that -- when the kids grow up. The mother evidently was more considerate of her children when she gave them permission to see their father before he abducted them. The Canadian government should be strongly involved, but in a country like Lebanon where they chose to kill each other for 15 years rather than behave rationally, and are now again trying to destroy their government one does not expect the government to consider its children as other than objects.

Since USA or Canada hands restraining orders or custody of children to women as they give chocolate bars to kids, there is no way for a father to win custody. Fathers in this matter, are treated like 10th class citizens. It makes me laugh and sick at the same time when I read other comments about "mother has win custody in canada's courts". She win because in Canada or US it is automatic a woman wins. How about fathers. Does any one thinks about him or his feelings or love to his children. This Ms Hawach should be in prison in Lebanon to be an example for anyone to think twice before attempting such behavior. Exactly like any lebanese would be in prison in US or Canada if he did what she has done. God bless you joseph and bless your children.

Sometimes, comments expressed by other posters appall me to no end. Of course a father can kidnap a child.

Removing them from their home to another country, without consent, violates the custody agreement, is against the law, and does constitute the stealing of a child.

Further, Lebanese laws may, as one poster suggests, provide greater access for the father, but these rights are given at the expense of the rights of the mother. How can we applaud this?

Further, I'm not convinced that in a similar circumstance, I wouldn't do the same to get back my children--let's not condemn any party too quickly, or glorify a system (either Canadian or Lebanese) that allows the rights of either parent (with the exception of abuse, extenuating circumstances, etc) to be trampled upon.

We should focus on a fair, impartial review of what has happened here: releasing those who acted within the boundaries of the law, and punishing (fairly) those who did not, as the circumstances (which none of us know fully, as most parties remain in hiding) warrant.

This is a disturbing story with multiple consequences for all involved. It illustrates gender bias, cultural bias and the emotional ransoms which are created when children do become pawns but let us be clear on a few facts:

Neither Canada nor Lebanon are going to allow foreign laws to be inforced on citizens within their own country without an extradition treaty and until that occurs, the mother and father are in a legal stalemate. Unfortunately, Mr. Pembrooke and Mr. Corrigan are not. Under Lebanese law, Hawach had custody and by taking the children (or assisting in taking the children) they could be charged (and very probably convicted), simply to serve as examples to the mother.

I feel for Melissa's situation and acknowledge that the two soldiers likely acted out without much convincing due to a sense of moral obligation but I wonder if she is going to come forward for them. Australia's and New Zealand's and Canada's foreign affairs secretaries can negotiate all they wish but in the end, it'll be these two soldiers who will most likely face the full brunt.

I like to show my support and respect for the father. My hope that he does not got tired and fight this to the end.

Please Joseph do not let them steal your children from you and also do not sell out or drop the towel. Just imagine how US or Canada governments would acted if a Lebanese parent kidnaped his children and went into hiden in Lebanese embassy.

Please joseph do not sell out your children. God help you and give you the strength.

Since diplomacy has failed and the Lebanese Government refuses to acknowledge this mother's rights of custody Canada's Government must act to protect and assist these four citizens being unjustly pursued.

Canada should immediately begin operations to covertly remove these citizens under threat from this hostile nation.

If this isn't a perfect situation for the use of our special operations/counter terrorist unit (JTF2) I don't know what is.

I applaud Lebanon for it's custody laws which give fathers some rights. Here in Canada divorced fathers have the right to pay up and shut up.

While some Canadians think the lebanese legal system may be biased to the father, here in Canada it's heavily biased to the mother.

If we had true shared parenting with parental equality we wouldn't have these messes.

Foreign Affairs Minister McKay should, when he visits Lebanon, invite Melissa, her Father and the children to accompany him on the plane back to Canada, and insist that the Lebanese government allow them to do so, safely escorting them from hiding to the plane.

One would also hope that the governments of the two gentlemen would apply all possible diplomatic pressure to have them released immediately and returned to their homes.

Love these comments, how quickly the sweeping judgements come:
- men are bad (a few posts on this one)
- Lebanese are bad
- The grandparents are bad. There is no reference in the article to the grandparents participating or agreeing with the actions taken by the father.
- dual citizenship is bad for Canada. This one, no matter how much I stretch the original text, I can't fathom how it got into the conversation. He's not even Canadian !
- Lebanese laws are bad.

Just a few weeks ago a French woman was arrested in BC for doing something, in my view, quite similar to what happened in this story, yet:
- she is not a man
- she is not lebanese
- she is not (as far as I can remember) a dual citizen
- lebanese law in no way helped her.

Joseph Hawach is a bad person. That's it.

It certainly is sad to hear about custody battles going sour like this. We have only heard half the story. We do not know what the father's perspective is and why he did what he did.

But most importantly we do not know what the children think and where they want to be. In addition to my displeasure with the father had done by taking the children out of Canada without the mother's consent I am also appalled at the mother hiring mercenaries and thugs to snatch the children and putting their lives in danger.

Hiring armed gunmen to get your kids back, how dumb is that?! This is too much Hollywood movie

A mother is a mother, although she broke the law when she put her kids in danger

The paid mercenaries hired should rot in prison... they deserve it.

As for the father, we need to listen to his side of the story...before commenting.

The kids look so cute. And I would not call it kidnapping... a father doesn't kidnap his children’s.

I too was in an abusive marriage, where my husband and father of my children threatened to take the kids to Lebanon and hide them if I left him.

I stayed 30 years with this man until the children were of age. I took this threat very very seriously, because I did not know arabic or the country and knew no one would help. If I had been in Melissa's position, I would have done exactly the same thing.

I often wonder if my decision to stay was a a good one, because the kids grew up in a home where cruelty, denial and excuses were considered "normal", and I don't want to see the pattern repeat itself.

Take courage, Melissa, you did the right thing in the long run.

Why is this even an issue? The children were living in Australia when the mother removed them from the father and moved them to Canada.

'She had no regard for the children or the father and their relationship. She is reaping what she sowed. As for David Pemberton & Brian Corrigan, may the full force of Lebanese law come down on them and they find out what it is like to be separated from family and love ones. Karma get it!

I don’t get some of the racist implications of the messages here. Lots of countries have different child custody and extradition laws. For example, in Japan, mothers automatically get custody, and if a Japanese-American woman kidnapped her kids and took them to Japan, there would be no extradition to the US (or presumably Canada). There is no recourse for the father. So, for the readers who have commented, are their strong feelings about child protection in general, or about their feelings towards Lebanon/Lebanese people?

If these kids had been born and raised in Lebanon and after the marriage breakdown were brought to Canada in the same manner by their mother, I’m quite sure it would be a different story. Then the kidnapper would be a hero and the grandparents cheered on for not disclosing information, instead of vilified as the Lebanese grandparents have been. Why don’t we stick to the facts of this particular case, instead of degenerating into gross stereotypes?

That these girls' grandparents in Lebanon would allow this behaviour from their son is unconscionable!

Are you kidding? They supported it. I remember reading an article quoting their grandfather - living outside Lebanon - justifing the kidnapping and talking about how happy the kids are in Lebanon with their dad.

This sort of thing is culturally acceptable. A friend had a co-worker from the Middle East (not sure which country specifically). He was living in Wpg with his mother (it was her job to care for his home while he was at work), having left other family members in their family home in BC. His sister, married to a man he did not approve of, had a baby.

He sent his mother to BC to bring back the baby, which she did. When he mentioned what he did at work, he was stunned that his co-workers not only didn't support what he did, but told him what he did was illegal, and that he should return his niece to her mother. It took them months, but eventually this guy sent his mother back to return the baby to his sister.

The crazy thing is that NO ONE in the family thought that this was strange, and the sister never filed charges. As the male head of the household, even though living provinces apart, according to their culture he had every right to do what he did. The idea that a mother, or any woman, could say no - or even that the brother-in-law could object - wasn't even on their mental radar.

I agree that these men should be commended on what they tried to do. The main comment I seem to be seeing though is about the custody battle, not these men . Your comments should be about the two men in jail.

Personally I don't know who is in the right, the father or the mother, because the article doesn't get into that. For all I know the mother could be the abusive one and Canadian law being what it is mothers are favoured over fathers. He may have thought this was his only recourse.

That being neither here nor there, it should be the countries the men are citizens of that speak up on their behalf. Failing that the mother of the girls should request that the Canadian government get involved to help on her behalf seeing as she is the reason they are in prison to begin with.

I read this story with great interest. The one thing which really stood out for me, was how well-intentioned people can be caught up in a bureaucratic and legal mess. Especially when rights are not, (or rarely), respected, by different cultures, countries or jurisdictions.
As a former Canadian soldier, who was stationed for a time in the Middle East, I witnessed for myself how LITTLE support CANADIANS, receive overseas by consular staff. This has been painfully born out recently, by two Canadian citizens, (remember William Samson, and Maher Arar), and how little support they received, despite repeatedly advising consular officials they were being tortured. This is sadly the NORM, among consular staff. Turtles! The lot of them.
Well, like good soldiers, Corrigan and Pemberton, may end paying the price for the absence of moral and ethical fiber in those most responsible. The obvious lessons here may be, 'the road to hell is paved with the best of intentions', and 'no good deed ever goes unpunished'. Who besides Corrigan and Pemberton will have to learn these lessons?

In cases such as these, I am reminded how impotent out government really is on the international stage. It is high time that Canada used her considerable wealth to project more power around the world and help Canadians - WHEREVER they may be and using WHATEVER means necessary. I would gladly pay higher taxes to make this happen.

How is it possible that the CBC has managed to be so effective in Lebonon at getting this story out, and our governemnt officials so ineffective in their foreign relations duties?

It's pathetic that the Canadian government hasn't sent a team down there ALREADY and make the consulate do more than advise. Leaving this in the hands of some lazy consul bureaucrat in Lebenon is completely unreasonable.

If this goes on much longer it will blow up in MacKay's face, as surely as the lack of attention to Mahar Arar's plight damaged the previous governement.

The end of January is far too long for any Canadian, not to mention children to wait for help in this kind of a situation. They need to get this family home. Period.

why is this even an issue? the children were living in canada when the father removed them illegally under false pretenses. cleary, canadian law prevails in this case, no matter what lebanese law says.

It is sad that children ultimately become the choice of weapon that men use against thier spouse. The threat of having your children taken from you without recourse, without being able to see them again is so great that there are many women that end up staying in loveless, sometimes abusive (emotional or physically) situations.

It is surreal to myself (Canadian born and raised) that the laws of another country would arbitrarily say that one side is better than the other for raising children.

Even more surreal is the fact that the children have been kidnapped, taken away and stolen from thier mother, and country of birth.

A cruel heartless coward is how I would sum up what this "father" has done to thier children. His motives appear to be that of punishment to his ex-spouse. ("If I can't have you then you can't have the children, you will never see them again)

I cannot imagine how many Lebanese women reading this, who themselves are in a similar situation are now worried for themselves and thier children.

There must be something that can be done to protect our Canadian Citizens from treatment such as this. Is there no representation for the children, and thier place of birth? Do they have no rights?

I commmend the men that helped return the children to the mother. Unlike thier coward selfish "father", these men did a selfless and heroic act. They do not deserve to be in jail.

How unfortunate that Joesph Hawach for whatever reason took his children and forced such a situation in the first place. Shame on you, Joseph!

With parenthood comes an obligation to try and maintain some adult thinking and action. What an example you are for your two daughters.

We should help these two men, Pemberton and Corrigan get out of jail. The custody laws of Lebanon and Canada are gender biased in different directions. What a mess.

This whole affair is appaling. That these girls' grandparents in Lebanon would allow this behaviour from their son is unconscionable! Says a lot about the extent of patriarchy in that country.

Greater than that, however, is the silence on the part of men in this country and in Australia. To abduct one's children is a crime and more men should speak about about a man subjecting his children to such a terror.

This situation should not fall under the rules of the boys' club. Right-thinking men, who know the lives and well being of their children must come before their own desires, MUST speak out against a man stealing his children.

Men must speak out.

I send my warmest regards to these two men and their families awaiting their safe return. My hope for them, is that Prime Minister Harper will do the right thing, not only as a world leader, but also a human being. They were aiding a Canadian mother, rescue her abducted Canadian children from their abductor. These men should be recognized as the humanitarians that they are.

If money exchanges hands for such a task, so be it. Their courage is immeasurable and their understanding of fatherhood undeniable. It is unfortunate that men such as these are called upon to perform the duties for which elected officials appear powerless over. Protection of their own citizens. Who do we turn to when we are in desperate need? Perhaps human beings such as these are the heros of our not so progressive modern world.

To you Mr.Pemberton and Mr.Corrigan, I wish you a safe and speedy return home. Stay strong and know that you are not alone. The Canadian people are grateful. Merci/Thank You.

Forever in my thoughts and prayers,
Liette Levesque

Why does Canada allow duel citizenship for persons from countries they do not have extradition treaties with?

I applaud David Pemberton & Brian Corrigan for their role in this horrible custody battle. The father of these children is a coward as far as I'm concerned. If you have to HIDE, you know you are in the wrong.

I hope and pray that Hanna, Cedar, their mother and her father are healthy and safe and able to return to their families soon.

I also hope and pray that David and Brian receive help from the Canadian government and are able to return home soon too, afterall, they helped a Canadian citizen, who, has legal custody of the girls. Good luck.

I'm a single father and have travelled abroad with my son, each time with a letter of consent from his mother; in one case I even had an official translation made and notarized.

But only once was I asked for the document: this was here in Canada, upon my return! I congratulate Canadian authorities on their diligence, but I have to say that checking for would-be kidnappers upon their return is hardly an effective way to keep children safe.

Governments simply have to be smarter and coordinate their efforts.

The father of these two girls should be ashamed of himself. This is not a father that loves his children. He loves himself. Selfish.

The poor mother, having faith, allowed the girls to travel with him to Australia. Based on this alone, I feel she is the better parent. She was allowing the girls to share their lives with BOTH parents - as it should be.

The Canadian government should help these men. These men have nothing to be ashamed of. My heart goes out to them and their families.

This speaks volumes of the need for an enforced international treaty on the rights of children and their parents. It seems that not a year goes by without a similiar story reported in the media. This type of heart wrenching human contest will undoubtedly continue until the United Nations acts to engage the world in treaty negotiations.

I think Canadian authorities should be more careful when they have people leaving Canada with children. I have twice traveled abroad with my children and without my husband. At Pearson Airport back in 2004, before I took my son on the trip to Russia, no one even looked at my passport and my son's paperwork. Only when we were back in Canada after three weeks absence, did the customs officer ask me if the child's father knew the child was away.

And in 2005 I took my two children to the US. Again, nobody even checked if the children were mine, if I had their father's concent to travel abroad.

Another issue I believe is the dual citizenship that is allowed by Canada. I think the government needs to address this issue.