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Title: U.S. rejects Canadian's "child soldier" defense
Source:
http://thegallopingbeaver.blogspot.com
URL Source: http://thegallopingbeaver.blogspot.com/2008/05/damn.html
Published: May 2, 2008
Author: Reuters
Post Date: 2008-05-03 11:56:15 by robin
Keywords: None
Views: 61
Comments: 2
U.S. rejects Canadian's "child soldier" defense
Fri May 2, 2008 3:44pm EDT - By Jane Sutton
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.
Kuebler called the ruling "an embarrassment to the United States" and said Canada would share in the embarrassment if it allows its citizen to be tried at Guantanamo. He said Khadr would be the first child soldier tried for war crimes in modern history.
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#1. To: robin, Dicky, all (#0)
issued a ruling on Wednesday agreeing with prosecutors' position that the law authorizing the Guantanamo trials contained no minimum age He said Khadr would be the first child soldier tried for war crimes in modern history. It just keeps getting better and better..... Or is that worse and worse? Guess it depends on your point of view, Dicky.
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest. ++++++++++ Attention, Shrub; A life of evil is ultimately a life of wretchedness.
How about worser and worser? Joking aside, this is a travesty. At least Reuters is printing it for all to see. Imagine, foreigners first form an embargo, then finally bomb and invade your country; and at 15 you join your father and throw a grenade to stop the invaders. You are finally put on trial at 21.
"To destroy a people you must first sever their roots." - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
U.S. rejects Canadian's "child soldier" defense
#2. To: richard9151 (#1)
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