U.S. Case Against Gitmo Youth Shaken

Secret Testimony That Could Damage Government's Case Accidentally Released

(CBS/AP)  The detention of a young Canadian arrested in Afghanistan at age 15 and charged with acts of terrorism has been a lightning rod for opponents of the Bush administration's policies regarding terrorism detainees who have been denied the same legal rights accorded prisoners of war.

Now, as the first U.S. war-crime tribunals since the Second World War era begin at the military base in Guantanamo Bay, the trial of Omar Khadr has taken a shocking turn that has increased calls for his release.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) expressed its concern that Khadr's trial on charges of war crimes allegedly committed when he was 15 years old, "in particular in front of a military commission not equipped to meet the required standards, would set a dangerous precedent for the protection of hundreds of thousands of children who find themselves unwittingly involved in conflict around the world," the agency said in a statement.

Church groups and international rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, have asked Prime Minister Stephen Harper to request that Khadr either be tried under juvenile offender laws or be sent back to Canada.

And now, a secret government document mistakenly handed to reporters attending the trial appears to contradict the Bush administration's charges against Khadr, throwing his trial into a tailspin.

Khadr was 15 when he was captured after a 2002 firefight at an al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan. He is accused of throwing a grenade that killed an American soldier, Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer, a Special Forces commando. Khadr has been held in detention ever since.

Prosecutors said Khadr, who is now 21, was the only person alive at the compound (which had been hit by U.S. air strikes), and so was the only person who could have thrown the grenade that fatally wounded Speer.

On Monday, reporters attending the tribunal were handed a packet of pretrial motions by a spokesperson for the Office of Military Commissions, which included previously classified testimony by an unnamed witness who said Khadr wasn't the only living person at the scene, and may not even have been in a position to throw a grenade at all.

The 5-page document was based on an interview with an eyewitness identified as "OC-1," who shot Khadr twice in the back.

In the testimony, OC-1 states that upon entering the compound he saw a man lying on the ground, facing him and moving, with an AK-47 next to him. OC-1 fired one round, striking the man in the head, killing him. Afterwards, OC-1 spotted a second figure (Khadr) facing away from him. OC-1 fired two rounds, which struck Khadr in the back.

A Pentagon spokesperson would not identify to what unit or agency OC-1 belonged.

While OC-1 states that he believes only Khadr was in a position to throw the grenade, he did not see him do so. But his admission that there was another person who could have been the assailant contradicted previously reported facts in the case.

The Toronto Star reports that the release of the document caused a stir outside the military courtroom, when a security official - realizing the mistake - asked reporters to return the papers immediately, and threatened those who did not do so with being locked out of future hearings.

The journalists refused, and after an hour and a half of negotiations, it was agreed that the documents could be kept as long as certain identifying information (such as the names of soldiers in relevant units, dates and locations, as well as Khadr's prison number) be withheld. The Star noted, dryly, that most of that information was already in the public record.

Khadr's lawyer told reporters that the eyewitness testimony (which he claimed exonerated his client) might have never been made public if not for the mistake, and that the entire episode belied the Pentagon's claims of transparency in its tribunals.

"There's no openness about this process," Navy Lt.-Cmdr. Bill Kuebler, Khadr's military lawyer, said after the hearing.

The revelation shocked a former Green Beret, who was blinded in one eye during that 2002 firefight. "Everyone had told me from the get-go that there was only one guy in there," Layne Morris told the Toronto Star from his Utah home.

Meanwhile, The Globe and Mail is reporting that the Army's charge sheet against Khadr has been amended to add conspiracy charges in the death of two Afghan military personnel. The charges state that "On or about July 27, 2002, Khadr engaged U.S. military and coalition personnel with small arms fire, killing two Afghan Militia Force members."

When asked by reporters about the charges, Guantanamo's chief prosecutor, Army Colonel Lawrence Morris, admitted that the Afghans' bodies were removed from the scene and so sufficient evidence could not be obtained about who fired at them, but that did not mean the government has to show that Khadr actually killed the two men himself.

"Mr. Khadr is charged as a principal, meaning he did not have to commit the act directly so long as he was in concert with and shared the criminal intent of those who did the shooting," Morris was quoted in The Globe and Mail. "We see this all the time in instances such as bank robberies, where the driver of the getaway car is still responsible for the theft, as well as any harm to persons that might ensue while he is outside with the motor running."

Defense lawyers also said that a 2002 treaty signed by the United States which treats child soldiers as victims rather than war criminals is being ignored.

In response, prosecutors said the Military Commissions Act, which Congress passed in 2006, did not make a separate distinction for juveniles when it set up procedures for trying individuals classified by the government as enemy combatants.

A murder charge against Khadr was thrown out by a military judge last year, who said the military commissions did not not have jurisdiction over his case.

[quetzal0666]

Bush could care less over anything other than himself..

[cbs_oliver]

Time to consider charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

[zootallures2]

Same grenades that imploded the World Trade Center too? Or US military missiles? Even the Japenese are started to wonder what you ret*rds did to their 24 citizens. Unlike amerikkkan barbarians who could care less about 3,000 of their own... unless it means they get to bomb innocenr people for oil. Now that it''s obviously an inside job full of TV fakery, it''s time to move on...LOL! You sukkk!

[ricknuber]

Mudrose and Notblue must be in a meeting with Ailes and Murdoch. They''ll be along to add their two cents, just as soon as the RNC tell them what their two cents should be.

[neoconslayer]

We are our own worst ***.

[zootallures2]

Khadr is our soldier. Even if he threw the grenades, he killed one of the low lifes who bombed the trade center where 3,000 burned and jumped. That''s right kiddies, the US f*cking military blew up the World Trade Center for some nice shiney new equipment. I hope the Navy is happy with the new ships. From the melted down trade center?

[grazinggoat]

CBS News: ''On Monday, reporters attending the tribunal were handed a packet of pretrial motions by a spokesperson for the Office of Military Commissions, which included previously classified testimony by an unnamed witness who said Khadr wasn''t the only living person at the scene, and may not even have been in a position to throw a grenade at all. ''

-Again we see the lies and more lies, and more lies, and more lies and more lies and more lies.... oh yeah more lies, and more lies, and more lies... This Canadian boy needs to go back to his school in Ontario, Canada.

-Get our troops back! Troops, home today!

[artrick-2009]

They are all murderer so just kill em all and be done with it. We Republicans won''t lose any sleep over it.

[artrick-2009]

They are all murderer so just kill em all and be done with it. We Republicans won''t lose any sleep over it.

[artrick-2009]

They are all murderer so just kill em all and be done with it. We Republicans won''t lose any sleep over it.

[artrick-2009]

They are all murderer so just kill em all and be done with it. We Republicans won''t lose any sleep over it.

[artrick-2009]

They are all murderer so just kill em all and be done with it. We Republicans won''t lose any sleep over it.

[artrick-2009]

They are all murderer so just kill em all and be done with it. We Republicans won''t lose any sleep over it.

[artrick-2009]

They are all murderer so just kill em all and be done with it. We Republicans won''t lose any sleep over it.

[artrick-2009]

They are all murderer so just kill em all and be done with it. We Republicans won''t lose any sleep over it.

[artrick-2009]

They are all murderer so just kill em all and be done with it. We Republicans won''t lose any sleep over it.

[zootallures2]

Colin Powel should hang not Saddam and the whole freakin PNAC and that p*sshole Israel. Operation Peace Echo... 12 million dollar new anchors playing fake videos a 10 year old could make better with a set crayons. Scary smoke faces, planes flying through steel buildings with no resistance, no movement from the building what so ever, trash.... fake trash, an insult to the whole million years of human civilization... freakin loonie grass honkeys.

[grazinggoat]

They are all murderer so just kill em all and be done with it. We Republicans won''''t lose any sleep over it.
Posted by artrick at 03:49 PM : Feb 07, 2008

-GOPig spirited Creature, Huh! America votes for murderers by voting Repukons!

[zootallures2]

Posted by artrick at 03:49 PM : Feb 07, 2008

I can''t wait for you a Hillary to come crawling out of the spider hole with that ashkenazi doof Letterman. "Why don''t you spend the campain money on the starving..." Why don''t you ashkenazis feed them? You ran to hellywood and let the poor jews go to the camps for your swindling. Then impersonated them to steal even their money from Germany.

[getagrip54]

"We Republicans are all murderers so just kill em all and be done with it. We won''''t lose any sleep over it."

Posted by artrick at 03:49 PM : Feb 07, 2008

I noticed you made a mistake so I corrected your post for you arttrick

[feelfree1]

How sad that the Bush regime can not convict and sentence children who pose NO threat to us, after holding them without charge, and torturing them, for years.

That''s a real shame.

[zootallures2]

Act of war against Canada, Japan, Iraq, Afghanastan... Your own country... Who elses citizens did the US military kill on 9/11?

[inventagod]

Meanwhile, the US is subsidising an Iranin nuclear reactor... Why?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/washington/07nuke.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[zootallures2]

Iran is threatening our big war ship... boo hoo hooo... I hope you can take on the whole world with not even you own nation behind you... you can dock with Neil Armstrong on the fake movie set moon. Nobody will want you. Spit on you like Veitnam? I think they gonna throw sh*t on you!

[zootallures2]

Meanwhile, the US is subsidising an Iranin nuclear reactor... Why?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/0
7/washington/07nuke.html?_r=1&oref=slogi
n

Posted by Inventagod at 04:14 PM : Feb 07, 2008

Looking for a new home to dock the USS Dpleated Urainum and USS Civilian Killer.

[zootallures2]

Oh the evil! Satan is after our poor Sixth fleet and the new USS Office Tower Destroyer...LOL!

What a ******* **** you turned out to be. George Washington wants off the dollar and out of your history books!

[sgtrds]

They''ve held this kid for 6 years without trial and no it leaks out that their case was wrong in the first place. Bush''s abuse of human rights sickens all real Americans.

[zootallures2]

He was so bad at his job that he received an all expense paid hiatus in the Hanoi Hilton where they pounded him in the head so many times with rifle butts that what little brain he had was jarred loose.

Posted by Nancy_Naive at 04:30 PM : Feb 07, 2008

He only chickened out on a landing, ejected and his plane whiped out the whole deck crew. His own people shot him down...LOL! You just one big happy family... Family values.

[antoniof123]

So this is how the GOP does things they lie about the case and now they want us to vote for them again.

Someone ask MaCain how he feels about this and get a straight answer. If you ask Mikey he will so he is just a muslim we can kill him.

I will never again be fooled by the reactionary right wing or the Republicans again wait they are one and the same.

[zootallures2]

The evil is coming.... hurry start another war! Strike up the band, wave the flags... the evil the evil...LOL! Satan is coming to kill american families at a barbacue... We need another USS America Wonderful Perfect Freedom Justice against the Evil Doers and a deck full of BF50000 Scorpian Owl Preditor Smart Bombers!

[rukindr]

zootallures2,

I hope you haven''t procreated, your "views" are incoherent, uneducated, and honestly intolerable. I was in NYC on 9/11 and WITNESSED the planes hitting the towers. Now if you want to talk about our government being responsible go ahead, you should be concerned however that anyone can be named an "enemy combatant" and imprisoned without evidence for years in our secret prisons and judged by a military tribunal at their leisure. Yes, we have moved into a preliminary dictatorship much like the Hitler and Stalin eras (who also used secret prisons and tribunals for "enemies of the republic"), but honestly? I REALLY hope whoever is keeping tabs on these message boards comes after you.

[zootallures2]

Evil Doers! A war on mothers! Why not. Where is Brain Williams to tell you your mother is evil and needs to die? They are viscious and can kill you in your sleep with a frying pan! Hurry send more funds trough congress for the Super Floating Mother Killing Fortess 3000 and out new Kitchen Freedom Bomber!

[sgtrds]

It seems now that hardly a day goes by without the exposure of another Bush administration war crime or scandal. This is far and away and without a doubt the single most corrupt and criminal administration in our nations history. Here''s hoping that if the next president is Clinton or Obama that they actively pursue criminal investigations, charges, trials and imprisonment of Bush, Cheney and all of their fellow scum.

[zootallures2]

I was in NYC on 9/11 and WITNESSED the planes hitting the towers.
Posted by rukindr at 04:41 PM : Feb 07, 2008

Did you film it off your new LCD screen for an all new exclusive CNN shot of the same old stock war drill video?

[zootallures2]

I was in NYC on 9/11 and WITNESSED the planes hitting the towers.
Posted by rukindr at 04:41 PM : Feb 07, 2008

We witnessed you too... Echo This Peace Phantom Breath!

[rukindr]

Did you film it off your new LCD screen for an all new exclusive CNN shot of the same old stock war drill video?

Posted by zootallures2

No, you think they would have bought it? MAN, did I miss out on making some money?

[pierson98]

rukindr -

zootallures is a crazy person. That is not exagerration or hyperbole, he has severe mental problems. We all just ignore him.

Have a great weekend.

[rowdytexan2]

Well, are the lies up to 1,000 yet. Seems like this one will hold 65 more to add to the 935. Oh wait, the 935 was to get us to go to war. Dang, they stopped counting, then? It''s got to be put to a gazillion by now.

Geezus keeeeriiist!

[zootallures2]

I REALLY hope whoever is keeping tabs on these message boards comes after you.

Posted by rukindr at 04:41 PM : Feb 07, 2008

They do all the time but it''s beginning to frighten them that God is is keeping tabs more than message boards!


Ever wonder?

[zootallures2]

zootallures is a crazy person. That is not exagerration or hyperbole, he has severe mental problems. We all just ignore him.

Posted by pierson98 at 04:52 PM : Feb 07, 2008

Voted most ignored 1978-2008...LOL!

[zootallures2]

Oh boy it a a new plane his shot wiggled around in front of a video screen with a cheezy 2D plane pasted on...LOL! Is that what the Pentagon spends trillions on? Or does it go for hoooooookers, drugs, gambling, cars, and pools?

[zootallures2]

pre-Aramaic symbols to English... pardon my jibberish...he he he he!

[mcvet]

I have no doubt that Bin Laden is laughing his behind off. He could NEVER have gotten a more Incompetent Leader to go up against. Bush has HANDED the Enemy more recruiting tools than they could have POSSIBABLY hoped for. When your MAIN weapon is HUMAN BEINGS willing to blow themselves up you most certainly do NOT want this kind of thing happening!! It won''t be long until we start seeing groups throughout the world beginging to side with the enemy.... Shame too! Sieg Heil Bush

[zootallures2]

FEMA was set up on 9/10.... gee did Osama call them to get ready? Should have told the people in the towers and fireman Guliani was fighting with. And inside opening door locks weren''t invernted in 94 for those roof doors, but cell phone sytems in planes were being tested on just those four flights... what a coincedence?

[zootallures2]

I have no doubt that Bin Laden is laughing his behind off. He could NEVER have gotten a more Incompetent Leader to go up against. Bush has HANDED the Enemy more recruiting tools than they

Posted by MCVet at 05:08 PM : Feb 07, 2008

I heard US storm trooper recruiting is practically nill.

[zootallures2]

The USAF Millenuim Film Contest... Make us your best video of planes hitting the WTC towers and win a trip to France!

[zootallures2]

Do you think that kid crawled though the tower walls to place the explosives to make the crazy cartoon wing cut outs? Or some CIA and Pentagon crack pots? Maybe he was the one who pasted the towers on crooked while Matt and Kattie tried to explain the leaning towers, both at the same angle, leaning the exact same way.... like gee... someone pasted them on a picture crooked.

[zootallures2]

Wait, I know! It was the Syrians meeting with the North Koreans on the 87th floor and they built a nuclear plant in the Towers and it suddenly exploded.

[zootallures2]

I was a poor CGI graphic artist who fell on some mysterious bad luck. I was ready to sell my computer I''d worked for year to buy, when along came this great job doing my honorable duty for my country and the armed forces... what could be so hard about a really cool explosion and then get a check that would start me off in my own business...

[zootallures2]

Yea there were fighter jets at that base yesterday, but now the web site just says we keep oatmeal there in an old hanger incase of a domestic crisis. No no no no fighter planes there....