Khadr lawyers push to have all charges dropped

[CTV News]

The lawyers for Canadian terror suspect Omar Khadr pushed to have all the charges against him dropped during an appearance before a military tribunal Monday.

More...

 

[Praxius]

They argued for the dismissal of the charges based on the following criteria:

• The fact that the tribunal itself was not established until after the alleged crimes occurred.
• Their belief that the crimes occurred during a legitimate military exchange.

Exactly... and besides his age at the time.

Oh man did the US and Bush Administration screw this one up royally. Chances are what happens in this case will setup what's to come for the other prisoners. Perhaps due to technical blunders on the setup of this whole thing, all the prisoners will be released.

Oh what a knee slapper that'll be.

The eyewitness also said a second enemy fighter was alive inside the compound when he entered. Khadr's defence lawyers said this casts doubt on the U.S. government's conclusion that Khadr threw the grenade.


"It does raise questions as to basic facts of the government's case," said Khadr's lead defence lawyer, U.S. Navy Lt.-Cmdr. William Kuebler.

And he was shot twice in the back I believe..... there's a pile of evidence right there which contradicts the US's continual argument that he was the sole survivor in the compound and the troops shot him in self defense.

Reasonable Doubt Galore.... Free man. Case closed.

 

[Praxius]

.....The tribunal heard from Rebecca Snyder, one of Khadr's defence lawyers, that Khadr can't be tried for murder as a war crime because the offence occurred during a battle and should be classified under traditional laws of war.

"Soldiers are not protected targets," she argued. "That is part of what war is about, killing soldiers."

Earlier Monday, Khadr's Canadian lawyer Dennis Edney told CTV's Canada AM the defence had a number of concerns.

"We have a number of motions before the judge," lawyer Edney said.

"One, of course, is that Omar Khadr be designated a child soldier. The other is we're challenging the definition of terrorism, particularly Omar Khadr being detained as a terrorist on a tobacco field. Essentially, we're challenging all the various indictments against Mr. Khadr."

The lead prosecutor in the tribunal, Marine Corps Maj. Jeffrey Groharing, said Khadr wasn't following accepted ruled of legitimate warfare and therefore should be tried by the special court.

He pointed out that Khadr conducted surveillance in civilian clothing, and lived with women and children at a compound where the fighting took place.......

Ok, he was 15 years old... a kid. Prove he was conducting surveillance in civilian clothing and not just being a nosy kid.

And insurgents and the sort have always held up in a compound with women and children for protection.... derrr... perhaps he was one of those children.

By the way, did the US troops kill those women and children? You don't hear much about that.

"The accused and the terrorists he was working with did not belong to a legitimate army, they belonged to al Qaeda,''

Sounds something like the US's revolutionary war and how the British treated them... hypocrites.

 

[dancing-loon]

Khadr lawyers allege Cheney linked to video release

OTTAWA — Omar Khadr's defense lawyers will try to find out whether U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's office secretly leaked a video of the detained Canadian to an American media outlet – an allegation that, if proven, would be a clear violation of court orders and further proof that the process by which Mr. Khadr is being tried is a political, not legal one, his military lawyer says. In an interview with The Globe and Mail Monday night, Lieutenant Commander Bill Kuebler said he is trying to find out how a highly secret video showing Mr. Khadr in Afghanistan was leaked to the U.S. news program 60 Minutes. The video appears to show Mr. Khadr building a bomb.
The news program aired the footage last November.
Lt.-Cmdr Kuebler, Mr. Khadr's top U.S. military lawyer, said he met with Colonel Morris Davis, the previous top prosecutor of military commissions – the body that is expected to try Mr. Khadr in Guantanamo Bay later this year – last week.
At the meeting, Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler asked the Colonel where he thought the leak may have come from. In response, Lt. Cmdr. Kuebler said, Col. Davis offered the opinion that the Vice-President's office may have been involved.

Col. Davis resigned as chief prosecutor in October of last year, saying political pressure was interfering with his job.
If the allegation that the Vice President's office was involved in the leak is proven to be true, it would be a violation of the protective orders imposed on evidence in the case, Lt. Cmdr. Kuebler said.
But he added that it would also show the length that the government is prepared to go to prejudice the public against the detained Canadian.

Read full story here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../National/home
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If true, then I wonder why pick little Omar Khadr from all the other detainees? Because he is a Canadian? Why would Cheney want to put a Canadian "terrorist" into the public spotlight? What does that gain him?

Another thing I do not understand is, WHY is Omar accused of murder? He was in a war situation. Are then all the American soldiers murderers too? That would only be fair. All Soldiers who kill an enemy are murderers! All must go to jail or face the death penalty! Wouldn't that be the logical conclusion?

 

[Praxius]

If true, then I wonder why pick little Omar Khadr from all the other detainees? Because he is a Canadian? Why would Cheney want to put a Canadian "terrorist" into the public spotlight? What does that gain him?

Well it would fall along the same lines as back in 9/11 when government officials in the US tried their hardest to put the blame on Canada for the terrorist attacks. Perhaps to finally show how evil we are and to try and prove in some weird way that they were right. *shrugs*

But here's another part to that situation:

Khadr lawyers accuse Cheney office of video leak
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080304/cheney_tape_080304/20080304?hub=World

That opinion was based on conversations Davis had with 60 Minutes producers, Kuebler said. The producers of the show have refused to officially reveal how the video was obtained.

...... "They prohibit me from discussing just about anything included in the government's case against my client, so if the government isn't abiding by its own rules, I think that's a clear violation of those orders," Kuebler said.


Davis resigned from his post as chief prosecutor last October, claiming political interference was keeping him from doing his job properly.

..... Kuebler said the military prosecutors "desperately" wanted to play the video before the media last November when the case was before the court in Guantanamo Bay.


"They didn't get the chance to do it, and low and behold it ends up on 60 Minutes a couple of weeks later," he said, adding that prosecutors have considered the video the "smoking gun" in their case against Khadr.


However, Kuebler dismissed the importance of the leaked footage.


"I think the tape, at worst, if in fact it is what the government says it is, shows that Omar Khadr was exploited and used as a child soldier by much older people in Afghanistan, which is what we've always said," Kuebler said.