Omar Khadr, the only Canadian-born detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba has been handed a 40-year sentence. The backstory is long and controversial. Khadr was 15 when he was engaged in a firefight with US troops in Afghanistan on July 27, 2002. Evidence was presented that Khadr threw a grenade that killed Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer.
We’re going to dodge around the child-soldier issue as Khadr met the UN definition of a child-soldier and despite that, has been tried as an adult. Canada is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The US, is not.
We’re also going to dodge around the culpability Khadr might have, as I wasn’t there and neither were you. There has been too much written by third party sources who weren’t there, have never spoken to the parties involved and who wouldn’t know which end of a weapon is the nice end and which is the unpleasant end. Political axe grinders? We can hear plenty from them.
Yes, Omar Khadr pled guilty to the charges last week. He did it to get a deal. The deal was for his eventual release and repatriation back to Canada, so he had to fib, otherwise he’d be in Gitmo for the next forty years. Unlike nationals from Australia, the UK and other countries who were held in Gitmo by the US in the Evildoers of the Axis of Evil Doers Axis post 9/11 roundup, Canada has never asked the US to send Khadr back to Canada to face trial here. The US has sent several dozen Gitmo Guests back to their homeland because the US knew they had no hope in hell of getting a conviction.
Except with Omar Khadr, the US knew that our Prime Minister, Stephen “Call me Stephen” Harper, was (and still is) such a p-whipped Dubya-wannabe that Canada wouldn’t dare ask for repatriation. Harper didn’t disappoint.
The US military panel of three female and four male US Military officers returned their decision this afternoon, saying, despite the plea deal brokered with the prosecution, that Khadr should get 40 years. Khadr has already served eight years at Gitmo and the deal was for eight more. Khadr will be eligible to apply for transfer back to Canada after one more year in the jug.
It would seem that the best the US Military Judicial System can do is to force a child soldier into a a bogus plea bargain to pay for US soldiers killed in action. And don’t forget, someone has to pay for the “Mission Accomplished” banner and carrier landing on the TR.
Here’s the final, telling point: Although more than 1,200 US troops have been killed in Afghanistan, only one detainee has been charged and put on trial. That would be Omar Khadr. The rest have walked.
RoadDave 