Witness says U.S. soldier nearly executed Khadr

[Praxius]

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/03/19/khadr.html

Omar Khadr, the Canadian who has been held at Guantanamo Bay since being captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, was almost executed by an American soldier, a newly released witness account says.

The account from an army officer, written in a personal diary released by the U.S. military, says one soldier was about to tell another soldier to kill Khadr during the 2002 firefight when he was captured, but other U.S. troops intervened.

"PV2 R had his sites right on [Khadr] point blank," said the excerpt, which had been edited by the U.S. Defence Department prior to its release on Wednesday. "I was about to tap R on his back to tell him to kill him but the [Special Forces] guys stopped us and told us not to."

The Pentagon alleges that after a July 2002 attack by U.S. soldiers on a suspected al-Qaeda compound, Khadr threw a grenade that killed one of the U.S. soldiers. He was captured and detained at Guantanamo Bay as a result.

The U.S. military has claimed that Khadr was the only one who could have thrown the grenade. But a defence team discovered a witness late in 2007 who contradicted that claim, and the diary account also says that there were two people alive in the compound after the grenade that killed U.S. medic Sgt. First Class Christopher Speer was thrown.

The officer describes in the diary the death of the other fighter. "I remember looking over my right shoulder and seeing (redacted) just waste the guy who was still alive. He was shooting him with controlled pairs," or rapid execution-style firing.

Defence lawyer Lt.-Cmdr. William Kuebler says the death of the other fighter and the circumstances of Khadr's capture may have motivated U.S. soldiers to alter details in order to protect themselves. He alleges that a report on the incident, written by the region commander, was revised two months later to say Khadr was the only person left alive after the battle.

Khadr was shot twice in the back before his capture, leaving two huge exit wounds in his chest, a witness identified as OC-1 said in February. The Pentagon has said American soldiers fired on Khadr in self-defence. Khadr was still being treated in hospital 10 months later.

The prosecution has acknowledged the memo was updated, but said the changes were simply to reflect that Khadr survived his injuries.

The Toronto-born Khadr, who was 15 when he was wounded and captured, is expected to be tried in a military court at Guantanamo in the summer.

Also Wednesday, Khadr's chief interrogator for three months at the U.S. facility in Bagram, Afghanistan, identified as Sgt. Joshua Claus, has been given immunity from prosecution for any possible abuse of Khadr in return for his testimony at Khadr's trial.

Claus was court-martialled and discharged from the army after another badly beaten prisoner at Bagram died in December 2002.

In an affidavit released Monday, Khadr said he was forced to confess to placate interrogators who shackled him for hours, dropped him and threatened him with rape.

Sounding a lot worse for the US then it is for Omar in this situation. Even if he chucked the grenade and killed the US soldier (Which even seems questionable now considdering there is confusion in fact about how many other's were alive after the fight) for US troops to seem to remove protocol and act on their emotions, and from what it sounds, executed the other ones who were alive.... starting to sound like a very pathetic situation for the US and there is no justifiable excuse for their actions if the above is in fact true. And coming directly from the diary of one of the soldiers who was there.... it's not looking good.

 

[Praxius]

Additional Information:

Officer nearly ordered Khadr's execution: witness
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080319/khadr_witness_080319/20080319?hub=World

A U.S. Army officer was going to have Canadian Omar Khadr executed after a July 2002 firefight in Afghanistan but was stopped at the last moment by Special Forces troops, according to a diary account.

The witness excerpt, contained in legal briefs released Wednesday by the U.S. Defence Department, confirmed that a second terror suspect was alive when the grenade that killed Sgt. Christopher Speer was thrown.

"I was about to tap (identity blacked out) on his back to tell him to kill him but the SF guys stopped us and told us not to.''

The officer also described the death of the other al Qaeda fighter.

"I remember looking over my right shoulder and seeing (redacted) just waste the guy who was still alive. He was shooting him with controlled pairs,'' or rapid execution-style firing.

Last month, another witness identified only as OC-1 provided the first testimony in a mistakenly released document that there was a second fighter alive.

The soldier said he killed the fighter before spotting Khadr, who was slumped against a wall facing away from him. He said he shot Khadr twice in the back.

The Pentagon has said American soldiers fired on Khadr in self-defence.

Oh and another thing.... how can they claim they shot Omar in self defence by shooting him twice in the back? WTF was he doing? Farting at them?

Slumped in the corner, facing away from him.... yeah, look out, he's gonna attack you! Pssh... 15 year old kid scared shatless if you ask me, and then they shoot him in the back twice.

There's some great soldiers there.

 

[Praxius]

....."(He's) missing a piece of his chest and I can see his heart beating,'' wrote one officer included in a legal motion.

Defence lawyer Lt.-Cmdr. William Kuebler related that Khadr's wounds "were infected, swollen and still seeping blood nearly seven months after the firefight.''

He was still being treated in hospital 10 months later, said Kuebler, adding the circumstances of Khadr's capture and the death of the other fighter may constitute war crimes.

The events could have provided U.S. soldiers with the motive to alter details to protect themselves, he wrote.

Kuebler alleges that an original report on the firefight written a day later by the commander for the Khost region of eastern Afghanistan, identified only as Lt.-Col. W, said the person who threw the grenade that killed Speer also died.

It was later doctored to say Speer's attacker was "engaged'' by U.S. forces, in a bid to make Khadr look guilty, said Kuebler -- a charge the military denies.

The prosecution acknowledges a memo was updated, but simply to "accurately reflect a fact known to all parties ... that contrary to what was initially believed to be the case, the accused survived his injuries in large part due to the medical attention provided by U.S. medics on July 27, 2002.''

*cough*Bull'shat*cough

 

[Colpy]

Additional Information:

Officer nearly ordered Khadr's execution: witness
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080319/khadr_witness_080319/20080319?hub=World





Oh and another thing.... how can they claim they shot Omar in self defence by shooting him twice in the back? WTF was he doing? Farting at them?

Slumped in the corner, facing away from him.... yeah, look out, he's gonna attack you! Pssh... 15 year old kid scared shatless if you ask me, and then they shoot him in the back twice.

There's some great soldiers there.

A couple of points.....one in war, you dont only shoot in self-defense.....you shoot the enemy. Khadr was the enemy.....do you think they asked him for ID to see if he was old enough to be shot? And, when someone has just been lobbing grenades at you, exactly how old do they have to be to be shot?

AND, as I have always understood surrender........one offers to surrender, that may be accepted or not.....only IF it is accepted does one become a POW and those who accepted his surrender become responsible for his welfare.

I think the Yanks blew it because they were too tender, they should have shot him on the spot, in the heat of combat.....no problem.

 

[Praxius]

A couple of points.....one in war, you dont only shoot in self-defense.....you shoot the enemy. Khadr was the enemy.....do you think they asked him for ID to see if he was old enough to be shot? And, when someone has just been lobbing grenades at you, exactly how old do they have to be to be shot?

A 15 year old boy hiding in a corner of the compound, back turned away, in which just got shot up by SMG's and whatever else they had.... sounds like a scared ****less kid if you ask me, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Don't forget the quotes from the soldier's diary stating they killed the guy who chucked the grenade.

If hypothetically Omar did throw the grenade, why would he do so, just to run and hide in a corner afterwards? I doubt he figured he'd kill them all with one grenade and that'd be it, realized he didn't and what? Ran off to the corner to wait to be shot in the back twice?

Seriously, when looking at all the reports, quotes, etc.... the case against Omar has already vanished. At worst, he's guilty of being in the compound with the insurgents, but I have yet to see any solid and practical evidence putting the grenade in his hands.

It sounds more like one guy threw the grenade, they killed him, found Omar hiding in the corner, we're about to kill him and vent their frustrations, told not to..... and now they were screwed into trying to explain how a 15 year old boy got shot twice in the back, so they made this fabricated explination that he threw the grenade and therefore they shot him...... once again.... BS.

AND, as I have always understood surrender........one offers to surrender, that may be accepted or not.....only IF it is accepted does one become a POW and those who accepted his surrender become responsible for his welfare.

Maybe he did surrender. I heard nothing yet about him not surrendering or surrendering. Maybe he was like any other kid of that age... scared ****less when the bullets started to fly and he hid in the corner.

I think the Yanks blew it because they were too tender, they should have shot him on the spot, in the heat of combat.....no problem.

Technically I agree, and I think I mentioned in another thread relating that they would have gotten off easier if they did just kill him. But instead, they shot him, they gave him crap medical treatment (due to the healing time and how bad his condition was after so many months) they tortured the hell out of him like the US loves to do with everybody they capture, made a BS cover story explaining what occured, and then tried to make an example out of him in this made up and extremely flawed justice system approved by Bush.

Now it's all unfolding and coming apart on the US's end, he was able to gain access to most of the evidence against him and now he was able to make a proper defence.... something the original trial system Bush put in place revolved around them not being able to do.

To me, the more and more I read on this trial (And i've been reading up on it in great detail since it began) the more it seems like what really happened was a bunch of cowboy soldiers not being able to control their emotions and racist ways and wanted to punish the kid.... and then attempt to cover it up.

At this stage and based on all the available evidence now provided, there is nothing proving by any reason that he threw that grenade and it now appears to have been a cover up gone wrong.

And even if he did lob the nad, he's still a Child Soldier and therefore should still not be put through this crap that he's gone through in the first place.

 

[lone wolf]

Have you ever watched an arrest where sixteen cops pile onto the prone driver of a car they have just chased? People can be real morons when the adreneline is up.

Woof!

 

[CDNBear]

I love it when people who know shyte about what their talking about, talk...

A wise man speaks because he has something to say; a fool, because they have to say something...

Stop thinking like they're on the streets of Toronto!

 

[thomaska]

A 15 year old boy hiding in a corner of the compound, back turned away, in which just got shot up by SMG's and whatever else they had.... sounds like a scared ****less kid if you ask me, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Don't forget the quotes from the soldier's diary stating they killed the guy who chucked the grenade.

If hypothetically Omar did throw the grenade, why would he do so, just to run and hide in a corner afterwards? I doubt he figured he'd kill them all with one grenade and that'd be it, realized he didn't and what? Ran off to the corner to wait to be shot in the back twice?

Seriously, when looking at all the reports, quotes, etc.... the case against Omar has already vanished. At worst, he's guilty of being in the compound with the insurgents, but I have yet to see any solid and practical evidence putting the grenade in his hands.

It sounds more like one guy threw the grenade, they killed him, found Omar hiding in the corner, we're about to kill him and vent their frustrations, told not to..... and now they were screwed into trying to explain how a 15 year old boy got shot twice in the back, so they made this fabricated explination that he threw the grenade and therefore they shot him...... once again.... BS.



Maybe he did surrender. I heard nothing yet about him not surrendering or surrendering. Maybe he was like any other kid of that age... scared ****less when the bullets started to fly and he hid in the corner.



Technically I agree, and I think I mentioned in another thread relating that they would have gotten off easier if they did just kill him. But instead, they shot him, they gave him crap medical treatment (due to the healing time and how bad his condition was after so many months) they tortured the hell out of him like the US loves to do with everybody they capture, made a BS cover story explaining what occured, and then tried to make an example out of him in this made up and extremely flawed justice system approved by Bush.

Now it's all unfolding and coming apart on the US's end, he was able to gain access to most of the evidence against him and now he was able to make a proper defence.... something the original trial system Bush put in place revolved around them not being able to do.

To me, the more and more I read on this trial (And i've been reading up on it in great detail since it began) the more it seems like what really happened was a bunch of cowboy soldiers not being able to control their emotions and racist ways and wanted to punish the kid.... and then attempt to cover it up.

At this stage and based on all the available evidence now provided, there is nothing proving by any reason that he threw that grenade and it now appears to have been a cover up gone wrong.

And even if he did lob the nad, he's still a Child Soldier and therefore should still not be put through this crap that he's gone through in the first place.

Child soldier. lol.

As if their bullets and grenades won't kill.

Would you have taken that bullet for Khadr had it been shot?

If not, then you are letting your racist ways interfere.

 

[Walter]

Omar Khadr, the Canadian who has been held at Guantanamo Bay since being captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, was almost executed by an American soldier, a newly released witness account says.


Almost; too bad.

 

[CDNBear]

Actually, if you read the statement... Someone almost told someone to kill the lil ****er.

The account from an army officer, written in a personal diary released by the U.S. military, says one soldier was about to tell another soldier to kill Khadr during the 2002 firefight when he was captured, but other U.S. troops intervened.

:roll:

 

[Praxius]

Child soldier. lol.

As if their bullets and grenades won't kill.

Would you have taken that bullet for Khadr had it been shot?

If not, then you are letting your racist ways interfere.

If he pulled a gun on me, or was going to throw a grenade at me, I would have shot and killed him and been done with it without remorse, however your hypothetical is not real life case.

They found him hiding in the corner of the compound, they shot him twice in the back. Their own words claim they killed the original guy who threw the grenade.... and yet you still go on like he did.

If your hypothetical situation did occur, I shot him and he survived, I wouldn't want to send him off to be tortured, beat up, coax my fellow soldiers to kill him, or anything else you want to use to justify treating someone like an animal. It was a time of war, he shot at me, I shot at him.

If I was captured, I would be charged as an adult for any war crimes I may have commited. For him, just like there is a youth justice system in place where we live, he should be charged under any crimes covered for child soldiers.

I will not allow your emotional appeals to change my point of view on this matter, because emotion is irrelevent in this matter. The soldiers involved in his capture allowed their emotions to get the best of them, and thus, made this situation we are all reading and watching now. Follow proceedures, do what you're supposed to as a soldier, and this sort of crap wouldn't be occuring in the first place.

Instead, you got these cowboy soldiers thinking their all king sh*ts of their domain get attacked, they lost a buddy due to a grenade, they found a kid they didn't want to deal with and tried to kill his sorry arse for being where he was, it was prevented by a couple of somewhat respectable soldiers who still have some sense to them, but then thrown into the torture cycle, documents were re-written to make him sound like the guy who killed their buddy and they tortured and threatened him until he confessed to doing anything they wanted him to do.

Now they've been caught red handed for being the corrupt bastards they are (All because of the courts changing the proceedures of this farce of a trial system Bush invented being illegal and unconstitutional, etc.) and it's been blown wide open.

The US's attempt to make an example out of Omar has made yet another example out of the US's principles and mentality.

And because I claim Omar should face proper judgement in the proper cout or law and under the basis of him being a child soldier, doesn't mean I'd stand there and let him or you, or anybody shoot me or lob a grenade at me. I'm not as trivial minded as that.

^ But that doesn't mean if I shoot you down and you're still alive, that I get to beat the crap out of you, shoot you some more, insult you while you bleed your sorry ass out, and be an overall jerkwad because I can, just to send you to the hospital for some 3rd rate medical treatment to keep you laid up for 10 months, then throw you into a compound to be hung by your wrists and tortured for god know how long to admit you're a bad person and I'm a good person. :roll: