U.S. rejects Canadian's 'child soldier' defense

U.S. rejects Canadian's 'child soldier' defense

Jane Sutton
Reuters North American News Service

May 02, 2008 14:33 EST


MIAMI (Reuters) - A Canadian captured in Afghanistan at age 15 can be tried for murder in the Guantanamo war crimes court, a U.S. military judge ruled in rejecting claims that he was a child soldier who should be rehabilitated rather than prosecuted.

Canadian prisoner Omar Khadr, now 21, is charged in the Guantanamo court with throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier during a firefight at a suspected al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan in 2002.

His military lawyer, Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, had argued in February hearings at the Guantanamo naval base that Khadr was a child soldier illegally conscripted by his father, an al Qaeda financier. He urged the judge to drop the charges, which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.

The judge, Army Col. Peter Brownback, issued a ruling on Wednesday agreeing with prosecutors' position that the law authorizing the Guantanamo trials contained no minimum age.

Brownback's ruling clears the way for Khadr to be tried in the special tribunals created by the Bush administration to try non-U.S. captives it considers "unlawful enemy combatants" outside the regular civilian and military courts.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/05/us_rejects_canadians_child_sol.php

Al Qaida has already won.

But this issue has some Canadians in an uproar, including me.

Some have made the point that we cannot simultaneously recognize the child soldiers in Sierra Leone as victims while branding a similarly-aged boy a terrorist.

If you want to change the definition of a "child soldier", then fine. Let's just not have the double standard.

"charged in the Guantanamo court with throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier during a firefight at a suspected al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan in 2002."

It's a war, so how is that a crime? Is it ipso facto illegal for the other side to fight? I mean, it's what one would expect in a war.

wearing a uniform, you're a terrorist when you kill one of our people. And, we who DO wear uniforms are NOT terrorists when we kill YOUR people.

I'm pretty sure this is how it works.

sw