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Topic started on 10-11-2007 @ 08:25 PM by GAOTU789
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Omar Khadr is a Canadian citizen who is detained at Gitmo. Captured at 15 in Afghanistan and accused of killing an American medic, along with several
other terrorism related charges, he has had a long road to get to his trial. The boy,now 21, has been held in limbo at Gitmo for the last 5 years. The
latest twist on this case is the prosecuting military attorney's have withheld a witness, who for reasons of National security can't be identified,
until Thursday from the defence. This witness can apparently help the claim of Khadr's lawyers to get him designated as a child soldier. The
prosecution didn't bother to talk to this witness and didn't notify the defence till Thursday, the day before the trail was set to go.
Here's some links for your reading pleasure....
en.wikipedia.org...
www.rollingstone.com...
www.cbc.ca...
Now some of those are long so I'll give you some highlights of them.
The Rolling Stone article chronicles some of his earlier life, growing up in a fundamentalist household. His father taught the boys from a young age
that martyrdom was a noble death. They moved to Pakistan, where he was educated in a strict Islamic school. Back to Canada after his father was
injured in a mine blast. Then back to Pakistan and eventually to Afghanistan, where they lived with OBL in Jalabad. This kid was destined to be a
Jihadist. Every moment of his life was dictated by fundamental doctrine. Brainwashed you could say and exposed to the "evils" of the West. He was
with OBL when the States launched the cruise missile attack in retaliation for the African Embassy bombings.
The RS article also chronicles the torture of Khadr at the hands of the military in Gitmo. Physical beatings, sensory depravation, sensory overload,
humiliation, loss of self idenity. You know, GWB "enhanced interrogation techniques". It also goes on to talk about his brother, who the US tried to
use as an informant inside Gitmo. But removed him because there was so little to find out.
The wiki article is a chronicle mostly of the charges leveled against Khadr. It also provides some background on him.
The Canadian Government has abandoned him. They haven't tried in the least, unlike other world government's, to get this person released back to
Canada. They have ignored repeated attempts by organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to pressure them into intervening on
this person's behalf with the US government.
I have found no mention of this in big US news sources. NONE. One hit for the Miami Herald and one for the Washington Post. Surprised? I'm not. Why
in the name of all thats good would the US press cover a trial like this? It deals with the torture, not "enhanced interrogation techniques",
torture, of a child soldier.
I am not disputing the facts or the allegations made against Khadr. I don't know if there true or not. I am waiting for the trial to decide that.
What I am against is the torture of a kid. I am against the war crimes that the current US administration has perpetrated on the world and it's
citizens in the name of "Freedom and Democracy". What I am against is how these war criminals keep walking free while people are tortured by there
decree. Many of whom have been found to be innocent.
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reply posted on 11-11-2007 @ 04:38 PM by Oneshot1
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Cry me a River, Build a bridge, and Get over it...That 'kid' and his circle jerk Mosque buddies would see you Dead, your kids Dead, your country
Dead, and fight over who get's to strap on the nut and ball-bearing filled explosive pack to pop in your local pizza joint on a friday night...
*SNIP* his "feeling's"...
Mod Edit: Profanity/Circumvention Of Censors – Please Review This Link.
[edit on 11/11/2007 by Mirthful Me]
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reply posted on 17-11-2007 @ 06:15 PM by nought but clout
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reply to post by GAOTU789
just working out the maths (of ages)
it does seem strange that the father would want to move to afghanistan when the Taliban were in power (a statement within its self)
the kid probably has been brainwashed.
who do you blame the kid, or the father ?
or even the mother ?
if he has killed (the kid) then he needs to learn what is right and wrong,
not a ferocious doctrine installed by his father
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reply posted on 18-11-2007 @ 11:55 AM by GAOTU789
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Khadr was definitely brainwashed or indoctrinated from a young age into the fundamentalist way of thinking. The article's tells about his father
talking about martyrdom as a noble way to die. This guy didn't stand a chance from the start.
Blame would lie with the father and education he was provided. Think about growing up always hearing of the evils of the west,of Christianity without
having the chance of hearing the other side. Even in Canada, he was schooled at strict Islamic schools with very little exposure to our culture.
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reply posted on 18-11-2007 @ 10:49 PM by Orwells Ghost
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The Canadian government has not abandoned these people; they were never ours to abandon. In fact, they are rather lucky they are still here.
I recall seeing an interview with the Khadr family where they had basically said that were they in Afghanistan, they would gladly kill any Canadian
soldier they found there as a foreign oppressor and would be proud of any family member martyred for the cause. They said all this from the comfort of
their Toronto home, paid for by Canadian welfare, under the protection of Canadian law enforcement officers. Needless to say, the journalists were not
impressed.
In my mind there is no doubt that the younger Khadr is guilty of killing an American medic. Brainwashed or not, he and his family are not Canadians
and should not be treated as such. A simple google search of the Kadr's will reveal a history of violence towards the west as well as ties to
fundamentalist groups. Osama attended a family wedding for pete's sake.
For the record I am firmly against the war on terror and a strong proponent of Canadian sovereignty. But these people are only Canadian in the legal
sense, that is citizenship, and deserve no Canadian intervention on their behalf.
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reply posted on 5-2-2008 @ 08:53 PM by GAOTU789
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***UPDATE***
www.theglobeandmail.com...
Doubt cast on allegations against Omar Khadr
GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA — Another fighter was still alive inside the Afghan compound where Omar Khadr was captured at the time a grenade killed a U.S.
soldier, casting doubt on allegations that only the teenage militant could have been responsible for the soldier's death.
It has long been assumed by many that Mr. Khadr was the only combatant alive during the firefight, and so must have been the one who threw the
grenade.
It appears that through a mistaken leak to the press present at the pre-trial which started yesterday, new revelations have come to light in this
young man's case.
There was another person alive in the compound at the time of the grenade attack, who was subsequently killed by a SF officer involved in the
attack.
While the interviewed agent — whose identity and agency affiliation are still secret — says he believes Mr. Khadr threw the grenade, his
account of events clearly shows that he deduced that conclusion rather than saw it first-hand.
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reply posted on 5-2-2008 @ 09:11 PM by V Kaminski
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Dudn't say nothin' about him sitting back to OC-1 facing the wall in the compound and being shot twice... nice down-spin on the quota selections.
Wondered who'd post. We roared with laughter that the Yanks mistakenly released this to the defense and the press. We'll have to see what the judge
says after reconviening. 
Vic
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reply posted on 16-3-2008 @ 07:48 PM by GAOTU789
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A couple of new twists on Khadr's trial.
Evidence doctored to implicate Khadr: Lawyer
The tribunal heard that in one official report dated July 28, 2002, the commander "Lieut. Col. W" wrote that the person who threw the grenade at
Sgt. Christopher Speer had died, which would rule out Khadr as the suspect.
Yet, in a near-identical report written two months later, but also dated July 28, the commander changed a single line to read the grenade thrower did
not die.
It was revealed yesterday that one of Khadr's interrogators at Bagram, identified only as Sgt. C, was court-martialled and disciplined in
connection with the December 2002 beating death of a detainee.
Given that Sgt. C was one of Khadr's interrogators, "creates an overwhelming lack of confidence in the evidence that the government is going forward
on," Kuebler later told reporters.
Khadr team wins a small victory
In what is being hailed a bittersweet victory, lawyers for Omar Khadr yesterday won the right to question a U.S. commander who changed a report
about a firefight in Afghanistan, blaming Khadr for the murder of a soldier.
Of particular importance to the defence was the ability to question the commander about the discrepancy, as well as the identities of Khadr's
interrogators following his capture at an Al Qaeda compound on July 27, 2002. Khadr was 15 when he was arrested after a firefight with U.S. Special
Forces.
I'm glad to hear this. Especially since the revelation about one of his interrogators being convicted in the death of a detainee. The defence will
get access to all the interrogation notes on Khadr also. Which is another victory. Must be hard to defend someone when the prosecution won't release
pertinent information related to the case.
I particularly liked this quote from Khadr's lawyer.
Particularly troubling, said Kuebler, was that the Pentagon blocked the public release of the motions filed by the defence because they contained
"negative information."
The move is an attempt to "manipulate the media" because the Pentagon is "taking an absolute beating," said Kuebler.
Imagine the Pentagon trying to do that. I'm shocked.
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reply posted on 26-3-2008 @ 11:06 PM by GAOTU789
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This is getting interesting. Khadr's lawyers are arguing in the Supreme Court of Canada for the access to interrogation files held by the Canadian
Government.
Top court reserves judgment on release of Khadr transcripts
His lawyers have asked Canada's top court to order Ottawa to hand over uncensored transcripts and videotapes of the Canadian interrogations of
Khadr in 2003 at the base.
Hope he gets access. It could possibly show that the Canadian Government of the time knew Khadr had been tortured and did nothing about it.
Shameful.
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reply posted on 28-5-2008 @ 09:53 PM by GAOTU789
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The Supreme Court finally handed down it's ruling on whether Khadr's lawyers could have access to his interrogation.
Top court orders disclosure information concerning Canada’s interrogations of Khadr or
subsequent material turned over to the U.S.
The unanimous ruling ordered the federal government to hand over documents pertaining to those 2003 interrogations by agents with the Canadian
Security Intelligence Service and Foreign Affairs Department, since Canada participated in a process that was contrary to international law.
“Our hope at this point is that the Canadian government will read this decision and recognize what everyone else knows, that the system in
Guantanamo Bay is contrary to international law, that Omar’s rights have been seriously violated,” Khadr’s Canadian lawyer Nathan Whitling told
reporters here today.
Here's the actual Supreme Court ruling for anyone that enjoys reading Legalese.
Supreme Court Ruling
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reply posted on 19-6-2008 @ 05:08 PM by GAOTU789
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It looks like Khadrs trial date has been set.
www.cbc.ca...
Canadian Omar Khadr was told by a military judge Thursday at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that his trial on war crimes charges
will begin on Oct. 8.
Also the new judge presiding over the case has ordered the US military to hand over the interrogation manuals to the defence, something that the
prosecution has been unwilling to do up until this point.
Prosecutors have been refusing defence requests for the documents, saying they contained sensitive information.
"The defence says [Khadr's] confession [at Bagram] was extracted under torture," Gillespie said, "and the judge told the prosecution you have 10
days to hand over those documents."
And another interesting twist to all of this is that the trial date comes on the heels of USSC decision to allow prisoners to challenge their
detention.
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reply posted on 15-12-2008 @ 08:19 PM by GAOTU789
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Well, a lot has happened yet so very little has actually occured since my last post in June.
His trial has been delayed repeatedly as both sides argue whom to allow as witnesses and what evidence may be admitted.
Khadr has had another pre trial hearing though on Friday and it appears there has been more conflicting testimony to call into question Khadr's guilt
in the death of the American Soldier.
www.cbc.ca...
Lt.-Cmdr. Bill Kuebler told the hearing that the photograph shows Khadr buried under the rubble of a collapsed building at the time the grenade
that killed Sgt. Christopher Speer was thrown, proving he could not have thrown it.
ca.reuters.com...
Defense lawyers also want to call as witnesses other U.S. soldiers who told investigators that U.S. forces were also throwing grenades at the
time, suggesting Speer might have been killed by friendly fire.
His trial will be the first to happen under President Obama, if it occurs at all, as Obama has said he wants to close Gitmo.
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