[url=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/story/863377.html][color=mediumbl...'s trial delayed indefinitely[/u][/color][/url]
Khadr's khangaroo khourt trial - khanadians khritical
Tue, 2009-01-20 19:02
#52
M. Spector
Tue, 2009-01-20 23:58
#53
M. Spector
Al Jazeera is reporting that Obama has ordered prosecutors in the Guantanamo military commissions (i.e. khangaroo khourts) to ask the military judges to suspend all proceedings for 120 days. The decision is up to the judges.
Wed, 2009-01-21 00:13
#54
It's time for Romeo to get on his ladder and harken Obama
Wed, 2009-01-21 08:28
#55
on CBC radio just now Khadr's lawyer said Obama's move indicated the likelihood of Khadr being sent to Canada, so the case would be put 'in Harper's ballpark'
Wed, 2009-01-21 17:50
#56
M. Spector
Panel discussion on Don Newman's show today about Khadr.
The Liberal and NDP representatives (Martha Hall Findlay and Megan Leslie) want Khadr brought back to Canada and "dealt with" by our judicial system. They admitted they have absolutely no idea what that means, but expressed pious hopes that our marvellous and humane judicial system would treat Khadr fairly as a juvenile offender.
This of course made it easy for the Tory robot on the panel to ridicule them as having no alternative to the "judicial" process already under way in Guantanamo.
Why are these wishy-washy liberal weasels so afraid of saying the obvious - that the evidence that has come to light to date indicates that Khadr is not only not guilty, but innocent; that he has been denied the right to counsel and due process and subjected to torture and is therefore entitled to have the charges dropped (hell, our courts dismiss serious charges against probably-guilty people because of police misconduct like illegal search and seizure, and unauthorized wiretaps - what happened to Khadr is much more serious); that he has already "done his time"; that he was a child when he was arrested; that throwing a grenade in wartime is not an act of murder; that the military commissions system is a travesty of justice?
Wed, 2009-01-21 18:21
#57
While I don't mean to sidestep or downplay what has happened in Gitmo, it seems to me our government is going to be using this as a cover for the criminal acts of our own intelligence services.
"Bad intelligence" .... where have I heard that before?
I think CSIS will use that as thier deffence in the Arar case, and already have. But think about that. An intelligence professional pleading that he fell victim to poor intelligence.
And you know what the worst outrage is?
It's gonna fly.
Wed, 2009-01-21 19:03
#58
The Liberal and NDP representatives (Martha Hall Findlay and Megan Leslie) want Khadr brought back to Canada and "dealt with" by our judicial system.
They've got some nerve. And what of young Omar doesnt wanna come home? Everyone has a right to torture at Gitmo. Come on!!
Wed, 2009-01-21 19:28
#59
M. Spector
U.S. President Barack Obama will sign a presidential order on Thursday to shut down Guantanamo Bay [b]within a year[/b]...[url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090120/Khadr_obama... News[/u][/color][/url]
A year? A FUCKING YEAR?
And so the Obomba backsliding continues....
Wed, 2009-01-21 19:34
#60
M. Spector
Omar Khadr could not have seen Maher Arar at terrorist safe houses in Afghanistan because the Ottawa engineer was in Canada during the time Khadr told an FBI agent that he saw him.- Toronto StarFBI Special Agent Robert Fuller testified for a second day today at Khadr's pre-trial hearing and said that Khadr placed Arar in Afghanistan during September or October 2001.
The admission followed testimony a day earlier that linked Arar and Khadr, stunning the military courtroom here and drawing scorn in Canada.
Why on earth would the military prosecutors offer this evidence without checking to see if Arar really was in Afghanistan in September/October 2001? It couldn't be that hard to figure out, given the enormous public record that now exists concerning Arar's personal history and movements in the last decade.
ETA:
That the FBI could be so spectacularly wrong on this important detail casts into doubt all the evidence gleaned from interrogating Khadr. In fact, it casts into doubt all the confessions obtained from terror suspects subjected to what Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff once approvingly called "coercive interrogations."[url=http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/574363][color=mediumblue][u]Thomas Walkom[/u][/color][/url]
Wed, 2009-01-21 19:34
#61
The inquisition needs time to arrange a quiet execution for Oswald, I mean, KSM and the confessed 9-11 masterminds. Tragic.
Thu, 2009-01-22 16:11
#62
M. Spector
Maybe it's just his guilty conscience, but Michael Ignatieff has really taken the bit in his teeth on the Khadr file. He's been getting lots of media ink and pixels with his demands for Khadr to be repatriated to Canada.
His [url=http://www.thestar.com/SpecialSections/OmarKhadr/article/575286][u]latest reported statements[/u][/url] don't even call for Khadr to be put on trial here - just that he be "reintegrated into Canadian society."
Meanwhile Jack Layton hasn't said boo, which is just as well, since his position has been that Khadr ought to face the tender mercies of our fair and compassionate criminal justice system.
Thu, 2009-01-22 17:44
#63
I do want an official statement that he is not guilty, and in this country that means the courts. It does not, however, necessarily mean a trial, charges can be dealt with in pre trial hearings.
Thu, 2009-01-22 17:56
#64
What exactly was the point of quoting me and tacking on that set of non sequiturs?
Thu, 2009-01-22 17:58
#65
I do want an official statement that he is not guilty, and in this country that means the courts. It does not, however, necessarily mean a trial, charges can be dealt with in pre trial hearings
Khadr is an "unlawful enemy combatant" This new term as of 9-11 helps skirt around bothersome issues wrt Geneva conventions agreed to internationally since WW II.
Khadr was there in his former home country and terrorizing American tourists, or some such. We know Americans can sometimes be obnoxious when on vacation abroad, but they didnt deserve a 15 year-old harassing them like that. I think Gitmo inquisitors have it all down on paper what Omar confessed to in more precise terms than any of us are able to detail here. I think they had him confess attempted murder of the Easter bunny while they were on a hot streak
Thu, 2009-01-22 17:59
#66
What exactly was the point of quoting me and tacking on that set of non sequiturs?
Sorry, but I thought your first post was pretty ridiculous.
Thu, 2009-01-22 18:01
#67
So you think there should be no ruling on the accusations? You think that anyone should always be able to refer to him as an accused murderer?
Thu, 2009-01-22 18:02
#68
M. Spector
How about a public inquiry, like the Arar commission, which officially cleared Arar of wrongdoing?
Under our justice system, there is a presumption of innocence. We don't hold trials just so we can be sure that someone we don't like is not guilty. We have to have at least reasonable and probable grounds to lay charges and take the case to trial.
Thu, 2009-01-22 18:04
#69
Point. I'd go with that.
Thu, 2009-01-22 18:09
#70
So you think there should be no ruling on the accusations? You think that anyone should always be able to refer to him as an accused murderer
Who accused him of anything? I'm of the opinion that Ottawa should not encourage illegal kangaroo court proceedings by so much as acknowledging trumped up charges agains Khadr. He was a child soldier at the time not an "illegal enemy combatant" or whatever in the hell that means.
And not only has Khadr's basic rights been violated, they have the "real" 9-11 masterminds there and violated every rule in the book in extracting confessions from them. It's like theyve seen one Dirty Harry movie too many, or more like Hang'em High. Ottawa should distance this country as much as possible from kangaroo justice according to Crazy George and the American inquisition
Thu, 2009-01-22 18:49
#71
saga
He was a child soldier at the time not an "illegal enemy combatant" or whatever in the hell that means.
Omar was a child, but not a soldier at all. He was unarmed.
According to an interview with his sister recently, he was working to help set up a school. He was not armed, and not a fighter.
In the same newscast, I think it was Omar's lawyer who revealed forensic information they intended to present indicating that the grenade that killed the US soldier was a US grenade - ie, 'friendly' fire, blamed on Omar.
I don't know if that info was presented in court before it was shut down.
I'm down with a public inquiry, a better forum for making general recommendations for the public and the government than the courts. I'm feeling that Omar may have benefited if the trial went on a bit longer, though, as he is cleared of any wrongdoing by the info I've read/seen.
- He was unarmed, badly wounded, temporarily blinded and covered in rubble when they found him, not capable of throwing a grenade.
- The US soldier was killed by a US grenade
- He was tortured in Guantanamo, and said whatever he had to to make it stop. (told by one of his interrogators, who also said "He was just like any 15 year old kid, he missed his family, his playstation" etc.)
- The rest of the wounded were killed by the US soldiers (but they kept Omar to blame the soldier's death on him? I don't know).
Yes, a public inquiry would be excellent, since that implies investigating the behaviour of all involved, especially our governments, not just accusing Omar again in court.
I would personally like to meet those Canadian slime CSIS(?) agents who went to see him, and instead of trying to determinhe the truth, they fucking harassed and interrogated him some more, and assumed he was lying. Oh would I ever like to meet those goons sometime when I've got my stomping boots on!!!! grrr!
Thu, 2009-01-22 19:20
#72
M. Spector
- He was unarmed, badly wounded, temporarily blinded and covered in rubble when they found him, not capable of throwing a grenade.
Actually, he was [b]permanently[/b] blinded in one eye.
There was also an adult live person found with him - a real "combatant" - who was killed by the US soldiers. He could have thrown the grenade; thus you have the basis for "reasonable doubt", even if you ignore all the other factors.
Thu, 2009-01-22 20:09
#73
And even if Khadr had been a 15 year-old child soldier then, Ottawa is supposed to recognize international laws prohibiting their prosecution and detainment. And there are other internationally recognized child rights being violated at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Thu, 2009-01-22 23:30
#74
According to an interview with his sister recently, he was working to help set up a school. He was not armed, and not a fighter.
heh
In the same newscast, I think it was Omar's lawyer who revealed forensic information they intended to present indicating that the grenade that killed the US soldier was a US grenade - ie, 'friendly' fire, blamed on Omar.
Not really proof it was thrown by US, they would need to find a lot number on the grenade to identify if it was issued to US soldiers. US has a bad tendencyof letting their munitions find their way into hands of people who use it against them.
Thu, 2009-01-22 23:33
#75
M. Spector
Prior to the suspension of the tribunal, Khadr’s lawyers were expected to call for the testimony of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_M._Corsetti][color=mediumblue][u]former PFC Damien M. Corsetti[/u][/color][/url] who was stationed at Bagram Airbase during Khadr’s imprisonment and who would confirm that Khadr was tortured and forced to make statements under duress. Corsetti interrogated the prisoner a number of times before he was sent to Guantanamo in 2002, and questioned Khadr at least once while he was recuperating in bed from injuries.
[url=http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=3&id=15456][color=mediumb...
Thu, 2009-01-22 23:37
#76
US has a bad tendencyof letting their munitions find their way into hands of people who use it against them.
[i]Im yirtzeh hashem![/i]
Thu, 2009-01-22 23:53
#77
Yes, a public inquiry would be excellent, since that implies investigating the behaviour of all involved, especially our governments, not just accusing Omar again in court.
Agreed. I think Americans were lied to about 9-11. The 9-11 Commission report itself apparently revealed official malfeasance at the highest levels. American truthers keep trying to register their petition for a second investigation with Change.org but claim their efforts have been censored time and again.
And Khadr was a child at the time and had nothing to do with the mythos of actual 9-11 events. He was a child in his home country when an invading army came calling. And I think Canadian taxpayers will be on the hook for Ottawa's toadying to an American inquisition
Fri, 2009-01-23 00:46
#78
Even if Omar Khadr was standing in the open, firing an M-60 at attacking Americans [i]a la[/i] Rambo, his treatment would [i]still[/i] be a violation of international law and the Geneva conventions. If Khadr had been videotaped pulling the pin out with his teeth and shoving the grenade down that Yank terrorist's pants, he should [i]still[/i] be repatriated to Canada with a full apology and compensation from the US and Canadian governments.
In my opinion, he should be given the VC.
But the fact remains that the US has no basis to hold Kadhr, no case, and no legitimacy when it comes to prosecuting "war crimes". The Canadian government has demonstrated that it cannot be trusted to protect its own citizens.
Fri, 2009-01-23 01:52
#79
M. Spector
To put it bluntly, on January 19 and 20, everything that is wrong with Guantánamo and the Bush administration's ill-conceived, cruel and inept "War on Terror" was on display in two courtrooms at Guantánamo, where pre-trial hearings were taking place in the cases of Omar Khadr and the alleged 9/11 co-conspirators....
The question of dubious confessions arose when a female agent, identified only as [b]"Interrogator 11,"[/b] who had interrogated Khadr at Guantánamo, testified that he had admitted throwing the grenade that killed Sgt. Speer. According to the agent, the incident took place after three other men had been killed and Khadr "cowered under a bush as the soldiers moved in," as a CBC News report explained. "He pulled the pin and just chucked it over his shoulder," the agent said. "He had never thrown one before, so he just threw it over his shoulder, like he had seen in the movies."
Although the interrogator claimed that Khadr was "very happy" to speak to her, and that, "when he would come to the room, he was always smiling," [b]there are three major problems with her story.[/b]
The first, as has been demonstrated in several hearings in the last 14 months, is that other reports by eyewitnesses are completely at odds with her account....
In March, Kuebler explained that the report of the circumstances that led to Khadr's capture, written by an officer identified only as [b]"Lt. Col. W.[/b]," had been altered after the event to implicate Khadr, and at another hearing on December 12 a witness identified only as "Soldier No. 2" produced further evidence indicating that Khadr could not have thrown the grenade. In a motion submitted by Khadr's lawyers, he stated that he "thought he was standing on a 'trap door' because the ground did not seem solid." He then "bent down to move the brush away to see what was beneath him and discovered that he was standing on a person; and that Mr. Khadr appeared to be 'acting dead.'" Lt. Cmdr. Kuebler explained that photographs taken at the scene, which were not shown to observers of the trial proceedings, "show a pile of rubble from the collapsed roof, and then show the debris moved aside to reveal Khadr lying facedown in the dirt," which "make it abundantly clear [b]Omar Khadr could not have thrown the hand grenade that killed 1st Sgt. Speer."[/b]
The second reason for doubting the agent's account, as CBC News also reported, is that [b]she was "unable to explain why she destroyed her notes of the interrogation sessions after she had typed them up,"[/b] which strikes me as deeply suspicious, and the third, which cuts to the heart of the defense team's doubts about whether any confession by Khadr is reliable, concerns the circumstances of his treatment in Guantánamo at the time the statement was made.
Although a date was not given for when Khadr supposedly made his confession, he was subjected to appalling mistreatment both in Bagram, where he was held for three months after his capture, and in Guantánamo, where he was subjected to an array of abusive techniques -- derived from torture techniques taught in US military schools to train US personnel to resist interrogation, and to provide false confessions...
In Khadr's case, these techniques included prolonged isolation in a freezing cold cell, beatings, and being short-shackled in painful positions until he urinated on himself. On one particularly humiliating occasion, he reported that the guards "poured a pine-scented cleaning fluid over him and used him as a 'human mop' to clean up the mess."
Under these circumstances, it is difficult to see how any confession can be trusted. As Lt. Cmdr. Kuebler explained on Monday, Khadr "regularly lied to his interrogators to avoid being abused."...
According to [FBI Special Agent Robert] Fuller, who interrogated Khadr in the US prison at Bagram airbase for two weeks in October 2002, when Khadr was shown a photograph of Maher Arar, a Canadian engineer of Syrian origin, who was seized at New York's JFK airport on September 26, 2002, he identified him by name and said that he recognized him because he had seen him at an al-Qaeda "safe house" in Kabul, Afghanistan "on several occasions," adding that he also "might have seen him" at an al-Qaeda training camp....
[T]he truth only emerged during the cross-examination of Fuller, when it turned out that the FBI agent's notes did not mention Khadr identifying Arar by name, and that they revealed that Khadr only "stated that he looked familiar." Fuller added in his notes that "in time" Khadr "stated he felt he had seen" Arar in Afghanistan, but neglected to mention in his testimony that the period when Khadr "felt" he had seen Arar was in late September and early October 2001, when he was in Canada, under surveillance by the RCMP.
Lt. Cmdr. Kuebler described Fuller's testimony as a "gift" from the government, and there is, I think, no doubting that he was right, but [b]what is particularly chilling about the testimony of both "Interrogator 11" and Robert Fuller is not just how false confessions can so easily be dressed up as the truth, and how a prisoner saying that someone in a photo "looked familiar" can lead to that person's rendition to horrendous torture, but how both of these responses are typical of the supposed evidence that is used to hold numerous other prisoners in Guantánamo, to this day, and that has also, presumably, been used as an excuse to fly other prisoners to torture prisons around the world, either run by the CIA or in third countries prepared to act as proxy torturers.[/b]
[url=http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/20348][color=mediumblue]... Worthington[/u][/color][/url]
Fri, 2009-01-23 02:02
#80
Sven
All of the Gitmo detainees should be freed like the little harmless butterflies they are.
And, if they have friends in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc. and if those friends want to live in more hospitable environs, I think T.O. would be the perfect place to welcome them!! I mean, after all, they are just poor, misunderstood, and (most importantly) harmless young gentlemen who would make great neighbors and would be fun guests at the next block party BBQ.
_______________________________________
[b]Eleutherophobics of the World...Unite!!![/b]
Fri, 2009-01-23 02:14
#81
Even if Omar Khadr was standing in the open, firing an M-60 at attacking Americans [i]a la[/i] Rambo, his treatment would [i]still[/i] be a violation of international law and the Geneva conventions. If Khadr had been videotaped pulling the pin out with his teeth and shoving the grenade down that Yank terrorist's pants, he should [i]still[/i] be repatriated to Canada with a full apology and compensation from the US and Canadian governments.
In my opinion, he should be given the VC.
But the fact remains that the US has no basis to hold Kadhr, no case, and no legitimacy when it comes to prosecuting "war crimes". The Canadian government has demonstrated that it cannot be trusted to protect its own citizens.
More like the VC should be redesigned with a picture of him on the front of it giving the "buddy christ" two thumbs up. Complimentary I pod touch, oh hell I phone andlets pull out all the stops- Reality TV show.
CBC would pick it up I'm sure.
Sven I like your idea about sending the former detainee's to T.O. Wouldn't it be wild if they joined the reserves and deployed BACK to Afghanistan?
Fri, 2009-01-23 02:42
#82
And to think that the most dangerous "al Qa'eda" terror suspects at Gitmo USED to be heroes during what was a holy old jihad against communism. tsk tsk
Fri, 2009-01-23 03:14
#83
M. Spector
Everybody here is making assumptions about the remaining detainees at Guantanamo that are completely unfounded. In actual fact, hardly any of them were dangerous al-Qaida members, or a-Q members at all. 20% of the remaining detainess currently being held are admitted by the US government to be completely innocent and immediately releaseable to any country that will take them.
The chickenshit USA, of course, refuses to take any of them, but expects the rest of the world to do so.
Fri, 2009-01-23 03:17
#84
Sven
Everybody here is making assumptions about the remaining detainees at Guantanamo that are completely unfounded. In actual fact, hardly any of them were dangerous al-Qaida members, or a-Q members at all. 20% of the remaining detainess currently being held are admitted by the US government to be completely innocent and immediately releaseable to any country that will take them.
The chickenshit USA, of course, refuses to take any of them, but expects the rest of the world to do so.
Hey, if they're not dangerous, then T.O. should open its arms to them with a warm welcome.
Or is T.O. "chickenshit", too?
_______________________________________
[b]Eleutherophobics of the World...Unite!!![/b]
Fri, 2009-01-23 03:33
#85
Everybody here is making assumptions about the remaining detainees at Guantanamo that are completely unfounded. In actual fact, hardly any of them were dangerous al-Qaida members, or a-Q members at all. 20% of the remaining detainess currently being held are admitted by the US government to be completely innocent and immediately releaseable to any country that will take them.
The chickenshit USA, of course, refuses to take any of them, but expects the rest of the world to do so.
WHy can't they go back to their home countries?
Fri, 2009-01-23 04:51
#86
Everybody here is making assumptions about the remaining detainees at Guantanamo that are completely unfounded. In actual fact, hardly any of them were dangerous al-Qaida members, or a-Q members at all.
And how dangerous is Khalid Sheihk Mohammed? He's so dangerous that some of the evidence against him had to be extracted by torture, because established legal interrogation methods would not have worked on this dangerous 9-11 mastermind. And just who is Khalid Sheihk Mohammed?
From 1987 to 1991, KSM worked in Afghanistan for the warlord most favoured by the CIA
- he confessed responsibility for Bali bombings in Indonesia 2002
- KSM confessed to the 1993 bombing of WTC
- KSM confessed to planning a series of post-9/11 terror attacks in several US cities and London
- and while he was spilling the beans, KSM confessed to planning the assassination of several former presidents, including Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, as well as Pope John Paul II
- KSM confessed to beheading Daniel Pearl
- KSM even confessed to planning to attack a bank founded after his arrest
KSM is public enemy numero uno and the centre of the 9-11 narrative.
KSM is the centre piece trophy(while Khadr is an adjunct bogeyman/child) of the Pentagon's contrived case for a phony war on terror, and somewhat reminiscent of the trumped up case for WMD in Iraq as a pretext for saturation bombing and subsequent writing of Iraq's new national energy policy by transnational energy company CEO's based in Texas
Whether KSM's right to a speedy Kangaroo court decision was violated or not, the Pentagon pressed on with the phony war on terror regardless. And our stooges in Ottawa completely and unconditionally acquiesced to Loco George and the American inquisition's shady agenda in Afghanistan
Fri, 2009-01-23 11:32
#87
M. Spector
Hey, if they're not dangerous, then T.O. should open its arms to them with a warm welcome.
If it had been Canada that snatched them off the streets of Tripoli, or Hamburg, or Peshawar, or Rabat, sent them to an offshore dungeon to be tortured and held incommunicado for seven years, and then released without charges, then I'd agree with you. Our shit, our cleanup.
But we all know whose shit it is.
While you're at it, Sven, why not send us all the others who make your white middle class people uncomfortable? Like some of those Muslims who make everyone nervous when they get on airplanes, or those Mexicans who take all the good jobs, or that Asian guy who runs the Kwik-e Mart? Send us Michael Jackson. Send us Carrot-Top.
Maybe you could send us some of the terrorists you already have living free among you, like Luis Posada Carriles, Henry Kissinger, George W. Bush, or Dick Cheney.
Send us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses. Send us the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. We'll put them all in Toronto. Anything to help out a good neighbour.
Ever think of moving to Israel, Sven? You'd feel right at home there. They really know how to keep out the riff-raff.
Fri, 2009-01-23 23:35
#88
M. Spector
[url=http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Khadr+child+soldier+Harper/1211864/sto... just doesn't get it:[/u][/color][/url]
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday he rejects the premise that Omar Khadr was a "child soldier" because the young Canadian was not a member of an army when he was accused [of] lobbing a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier.
He doesn't get it about Guantanamo, either:
"The [b]biggest concern[/b] about Guantanamo Bay is that most of the people there weren't charged with anything and weren't facing any kind of legal process."
I guess the fact that they were illegally arrested and tortured is further down the list of concerns.
And the fact that the "legal process" in question is a phony military court designed to deny the rights of the accused to a fair trial and get convictions at all costs - that probably isn't even on Stevie's radar.
Mon, 2009-02-02 14:14
#89
M. Spector
Excerpt from [url=http://www.amazon.ca/Enemy-Combatant-Imprisonment-Guant%C3%A1namo-Kandah... Combatant: My imprisonment at Guantanamo, Bagram, and Kandahar[/u][/color][/url], by [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moazzam_Begg][color=red][u]Moazzem Begg[/u][/color][/url] (pp. 176-8):
Warnick [one of the prison guards] told me about an al-Qa'ida operative they had captured. He told me this was a really dangerous, vindictive, highly trained terrorist, who had attacked a convoy of American soldiers that happened to be driving along minding their own business and helping people. This terrorist had taken a grenade and thrown it at the convoy and killed a soldier. Warnick said that he had been given the task of guarding him on a rota of shifts. The detainee had been really badly wounded, he said, his chest was pitted with buckshot and he had lost an eye.The boy's name was Omar. He was a fifteen-year-old Canadian, and I spent a few weeks in cell two with him. The medics came to see him every day to give him eye drops and check on his wounds. He had been stitched up and I could see the extent of the huge wound across his chest. [b]Of all the detainees I met, my heart bled for him more than any other, because he was not only so young, but also he was one of the softest characters I have ever met.[/b] I just could not see him being the type of malicious kid running around with grenades to throw at unsuspecting American soldiers that Warnick claimed he was.
Omar told me an entirely different story. He said he had lived with his family in Afghanistan for many years. When evacuations began he was left behind, with some others, and ended up in the house of an old man, Baba, also in custody. Americans raided the house with helicopters and killed everybody in it, apart from Omar, and Baba, who was shot in the leg. A Special Forces unit came in for a clean-up operation, shooting at the bodies on the ground. Omar was on the ground too, but terribly wounded. One US soldier died, and his comrades blasted Omar with a shotgun. Then Omar was brought to the Army hospital in Bagram, where the MPs, with typical US military tackiness, gave him the epithet "Buckshot Bob".
Omar was treated terribly badly in revenge for the death of that soldier. The guards often screamed at him and pushed him around. When the 511th left, the new guards, as always, came in pretty gung-ho, convinced that we all deserved to be there. They often took Omar out of his cell and made him work like a horse. They made him carry barrels of water, fill the water bottles up, carry boxes of food. They called him a murderer....
Later on in Bagram there were at least some Americans who recognized what Omar was really like, and that he was a minor who should have had better treatment. I told one of the interrogators that the new group of guards was treating him really badly, and he eventually spoke to the sergeant of the guard.
As far as I know, the above excerpt appears on the web here for the first time.
Tue, 2009-02-03 14:57
#90
RevolutionPlease
Harper government anti-Muslim, letter charges
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/581618
The letter is copied to the leaders of the three Opposition parties as well.Signed by Muslim and non-Muslim lawyers, academics, and public policy commentators, the letter says Harper's silence and inaction on Khadr's case is much different than his approach to other cases, and suggests it is motivated by a lack of regard for Muslim Canadians.
"Silence is no longer an option. We believe that your inaction with regards to this important case, compared to your active involvement in other cases (such as the repatriation of Brenda Martin from Mexico), has been, rightly or wrongly, interpreted by the Muslim community as indicative that your government considers Canadian Muslims to be second-class citizens."
Wed, 2009-02-04 11:25
#91
M. Spector
This thread-chunk is headed for babble cut-out limbo.
Please khontinue [url=http://rabble.ca/babble/international-news-and-politics/bring-omar-khadr....
Thu, 2011-05-26 01:36
#92
M. Spector
Thanks for that link, Fidel.
Rudmin concludes with this very principled and sensible demand:
The Khadr Case should be closed. The US government should fulfill its treaty obligations to release Omar, assist his recovery and perhaps compensate him for unlawful confinement and torture. Military prosecutors should investigate and charge officers who have been violating their sworn oaths to support and defend the US Constitution.
He does not call for Khadr to be "brought to justice" in Canada, or in a US civilian court, or anywhere else, because the whole idea of prosecuting him for murder is illegal under international law.
[edited for formatting 2011]
Thu, 2011-05-26 01:38
#93
M. Spector
How do we decide who is required to take care of him when he gets to Canada? Neither dumping him on the street, nor pitching him into the embrace of his family seems appropriate.
Khadr is now legally an adult. "We" don't have to decide how he's going to live his life any more than we have to decide how you are going to live yours.
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Thu, 2011-05-26 01:39
#94
M. Spector
So after abandoning a 15 year-old child to be tortured in an American gulag system for six years, the feds will likely abandon him all over again.
He should be so lucky! You really think Harper won't try to subject Khadr to a trial if he's repatriated to Canada?
Anyway, we're getting way ahead of ourselves here. I don't see Khadr being allowed to come home to Canada any time soon, if ever.
[Edited for formatting 2011]
Thu, 2011-05-26 01:45
#95
M. Spector
The US has revised its count of juveniles ever held at Guantanamo Bay to 12, up from the eight it reported in May to the United Nations, a Pentagon spokesman said on Sunday....A study released last week by the Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas concluded the US has held at least a dozen juveniles at Guantanamo, including a Saudi who committed suicide in 2006.
“The information I got was from their own sources, so they didn’t have to look beyond their own sources to figure this out,” said Almerindo Ojeda, director of the center at the University of California, Davis. Rights groups say it is important for the US military to know the real age of those it detains because juveniles are entitled to special protection under international laws recognized by the United States.
Eight of the 12 juvenile detainees identified by the human rights centre have been released, according to the study. Two of the remaining detainees are scheduled to face war-crimes trials in January.
- [url=http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/27754942/ns/today/t/us-admits-it-held-juve...
[edited to fix dead link 2011]
Thu, 2011-05-26 01:51
#96
M. Spector
I think the CBC news diddy said his lawyers are already drafting up some plan for Khadr to be interred in a minimum security facility and placed on probation with lots of counselling.
And here I was worried that they wanted to [b]intern[/b] him. Now you say they want him [b]interred[/b]?? 
Khadr has been tortured for six years in an American gulag. He's probably a basket case right now.
If he needs medical or psychological treatment, it should be provided to him free of charge, but on an entirely consensual basis.
As far as I can tell, no one has mentioned anything about releasing Khadr unconditionally to live with his mother
You're saying he should not be allowed to live with his mother?
As far as I can tell, nobody said Maher Arar should be institutionalized against his will or kept from his family because of the trauma he had suffered. Why is Khadr's freedom up for bargaining away?
If he wasnt dangerous before, he could be now.
There are lots of dangerous people living among us. Should they be locked up as well?
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Thu, 2011-05-26 01:59
#97
M. Spector
The prosecution of Omar Khadr and other charged Guantanamo Bay detainees was thrown into confusion Tuesday evening after it was claimed the U.S. government had secretly withdrawn - then reinstated - all the charges against them.The move comes less than a week before Khadr's final hearings at the U.S. naval base in Cuba, and puts his trial's scheduled start date in doubt.
"As of today, there is no trial date in the military commission case of Omar Khadr," navy Lt.-Cmdr. Bill Kuebler, the Pentagon-appointed lawyer for the Canadian-born terror suspect, said in a media release.
The release claimed that prosecutors and judges "are expected to steamroll ahead and try to quickly re-establish the trial schedule" when Khadr appears before the commission Monday....
The release speculates the main aim of the "withdrawal and re-referral" move is to lock in prosecutions of so-called "high value" detainees ahead of the inauguration of president-elect Barack Obama....
Critics of the commission system, created by President George W. Bush in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, were quick to react.
"Today's announcement is truly unbelievable. Just when it seems the Bush administration can't sink any lower, it finds a way to outdo itself," said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
[b]"A last-minute do-over of the arraignment would be a clear attempt to get coerced guilty pleas from the accused in order to tie the new president's hands and make it more difficult to shut down these sham commissions and to ensure that the evidence of torture never gets out.
"This is nothing but a desperate attempt to salvage the unsalvageable and cover up a reprehensible legacy of torture and abuse."[/b]
[url=http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=c8fb30fb-bc91-...
[edited to fix expired link 2011]
Thu, 2011-05-26 02:05
#98
M. Spector
I've been a member of Amnesty International for almost two decades, and believe strongly that the actions of the American government in his detention are inhumane and illegal....[url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/second-reading/andrew-steel... & Mail[/url]Mr. Khadr is a Canadian citizen. Would he be returned to Canada? And if so, what on earth do we do with him?
Don't get me wrong.
Mr. Khadr is enduring a terrible and unjust circumstance as a child solider detained without rights and in inhumane conditions.
But a 22 year old former Taliban child solider fresh out of 8 years in Guantanamo Bay after avoiding charges of murdering an American with a grenade does not sound like my idea of a great neighbour.
Would he need to undergo some type of psychiatric review? Surveillance to ensure he isn't consorting with terrorists again? Maybe an ankle bracelet like Paris Hilton had to wear?
The Liberal foreign affairs critic is saying Mr. Khadr could face trial upon his return to Canada. But that leaves Canada trying a child solider for a crime committed in another country against a citizen of a third country. Try preserving the chain of evidence on that one.
The only solution seems to be stringent conditions on Mr. Khadr's return to Canada, including surveillance, restrictions on mobility and possible detention, while the potential for a trial is worked out. If the government does not pursue charges, either for want of evidence or unwillingness to try a child solider, some of those conditions would have to remain.
Here's an idea: Let's put an ankle bracelet on Andrew Steele so we can keep an eye on him, and see how fast his Amnesty International buddies come to his aid. Or maybe we should detain him while we consider the "potential" for putting him on trial on unspecified charges.
[edited to correct expired link 2011]
Thu, 2011-05-26 02:10
#99
M. Spector
As the outgoing Washington administration's military commission system comes to an expected end as early as next week after the inauguration of Barack Obama as president, [b]Omar Khadr appears on his way out of Guantanamo Bay[/b] after more than six years of detention.Where he will go from the controversial military prison, however, is still the subject of much debate....
But while the incoming president has repeatedly made clear his disdain for the legal system under which Mr. Khadr was scheduled to be tried, it is unlikely that Mr. Obama will simply halt all Guantanamo proceedings without offering any substitute....
If Mr. Khadr's case is judged unworthy of completion, it is almost certain that the United States will attempt to send the 22-year-old back to Canada....
Prof. Forcese says [b]it would be inconceivable for a Canadian court to try Mr. Khadr if the United States had already decided such a case could not go ahead.
But Ottawa could still exert some legal effort to limit Mr. Khadr's liberties. The government could ask a judge to issue a peace bond, which would impose limits on Mr. Khadr.[/b]
[url=http://www.justiceforharkat.com/news.php?extend.3106.33]Don't hold your breath[/url]
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Thu, 2011-05-26 02:14
#100
M. Spector
The military judge in Omar Khadr's case has quietly snubbed both the prosecution and the defence in their calls for a [b]pre-trial ruling on whether killing soldiers in open combat is a war crime.[/b]The two sides sought clarification because [b]judges in three other military tribunals at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have questioned the government's definition of when war law is breached by acts of murder and attempted murder.[/b]
Murder and attempted murder as war crimes are the leading charges Khadr faces, and nixing them would derail the central part of the U.S. government's case against him just ahead of his trial's scheduled Jan 26 start date.
Significantly, Army Col. Patrick Parrish will now not have to rule on the controversial matter until after Barack Obama takes over as U.S. president....
"We will discuss, and I will determine all of the appropriate instructions after the commission has had the benefit of hearing all of the evidence," Parrish says...
[b]"There's no legal reason at all for the judge not to confirm that the murder charge is invalid,"[/b] said Lt.-Cmdr. Bill Kuebler, Khadr's Pentagon-appointed defence lawyer.
[b]"The effect of not ruling is to let the trial go forward without anybody really knowing what the charges are[/b]; the prosecutors have been quite clear that they don't have a murder case if Parrish agrees with the other three judges that have addressed the issue."...
Khadr's defence team has always argued against the validity of the war-crimes charges, [b]arguing murder is a war crime only when the victim is either a civilian or a prisoner of war, or when prohibited weapons have been used.[/b]
[The above Canwest article no longer appears anywhere else on the internet - M.S. 2011]
Thu, 2011-05-26 02:40
#101
M. Spector
[url=http://rabble.ca/babble/international-news-and-politics/khadrs-khangaroo... to previous thread-chunk[/url]
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[url=http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=73962c0e-def9-4ec6-b792-d... from Audrey Macklin, July 12, 2008:[/url]
Consider for a moment the recent conviction of a 12-year-old Medicine Hat girl who, under the influence of her older boyfriend, participated in the grisly first-degree murder of her parents and eight-year-old brother. No one dared suggest that because the charges against her were "very serious," or that because she was the girlfriend of a seemingly bad man, she forfeited her entitlement to be treated as a human being and given a fair trial.Indeed, her trial and her sentence (four years in psychiatric custody, four-and-a-half years of conditional supervision, 18 months credit for time served in pre-trial custody) were consistent with the special rules applicable to young offenders, including young offenders accused of a most serious crime: first-degree murder of one's mother, father, and brother. We all understand rights are not only for the people we like or consider good -- they are also for people whom we believe are sick or bad.
The statement that Canada has sought and obtained assurances of humane treatment assumes the audience will not notice the difference between getting assurances and verifying the truth of those assurances. The reports of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo are by now well known.
In Khadr's case, specific mistreatment includes denial of timely medical treatment and pain relief for bullet wounds in the chest, long periods of solitary confinement under bright lights and cold temperatures, and sleep deprivation. At one point, prison guards terrorized Khadr to the point where he urinated himself. They then dipped him in disinfectant and used him as a human mop to wipe up his own urine. He would have been 17 at the time.
Now we know, thanks to disclosure ordered by the Federal Court, that Canadian officials were aware of the abuse while it was happening.
The claim that it is premature and speculative to request Khadr's repatriation genuinely insults the intelligence of Canadians. Every other western nation and U.S. ally sought and obtained the release of its citizens (and even non-citizen permanent residents) without waiting for a trial.