For those who do not know the details, Khadr has been held in Guantanamo since 2002, charged with the murder of a US medic killed during a firefight in Afghanistan. The medic was killed by a grenade, the killer not seen.
Khadr was fifteen at the time. He was injured, and nearly killed by gunshot wounds. The story has been that he was shot while in a kneeling position. Another story is that different soldiers shot him while he was standing with a gun in his hand.
The actual conflict had gone on for hours. The compound had been subjected to sustained attack from the ground and air prior to the final sweep which lead to the medic's death.
The story with photographs, until now suppressed by a military judge, is that Khadr was found (and photographed) buried under a collapsed a roof. (See the photos.)
Khadr was so covered in debris, that a soldier didn't realize he was standing on him. Just previous, another soldier had entered the compound and shot an adult insurgent in the head who was moving and near an AK-47. That insurgent was beside Khadr. As you can see in photo 1, that insurgent is not covered by debris.
Given the type of debris covering Khadr, which includes rocks and earth, and his serious wounds, it does not appear that Khadr could have buried himself. When uncovered, as shown in the second photo, Khadr clearly has the gunshot wounds to his chest.
With Omar still buried in debris from the bombing, there seems to be no way for his to have thrown the grenade. It also remains unclear to me how he could be buried in debris, but still get shot in the chest or back, unless fired upon from above while in a prone position.
Child soldiers should not be prosecuted, let alone tortured, as is alleged here. Indeed, one of his first interrogators was Joshua Claus, who later pleaded guilty to charges of prisoner abuse and lying to the subsequent investigation.
I hate running trials before they have started, so I won't pronounce this one over; but as the Khadr case drags on, it is clear that things are not so simple as we have been led to believe.
2 comments:
Too bad our liberal govt when in power grew Kdadr "under the bridge". No wonder Harper con govt followed suit.
It appears that liberals "only get progressive" when either it's popular or in opposition.
"It appears that liberals "only get progressive" when either it's popular or in opposition."
Which is all we know of the Federal NDP too, right?
It's easy being self-righteous when you are not in power, and have never held it.
I'm critical of my old Green buddies for the same reason.
The political fallout of fighting Bush over this could have been huge.
Meanwhile, Harper has it real easy with Obama at the helm, and yet, he can't even ask for Khadr to come back.
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