Charges against child soldier held at Gitmo dropped

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/04/charges-against-child-soldier-held-at-gitmo-dropped/

Charges against child soldier held at Gitmo dropped.

A legal battle with global implications was set to begin tomorrow with the Guantanamo Bay arraignment of Omar Ahmed Khadr, accused of killing a U.S. soldier with a grenade in 2002, when Khadr was 15 years old. “A range of legal experts describe as the first child fighter in decades to face war-crimes charges.” Now, the case has inexplicably fallen apart:

A military judge has dismissed charges against Canadian detainee Omar Khadr, saying the matter is outside the jurisdiction of the military tribunal system.

Khadr, a Canadian who was 15 when he was captured in Afghanistan…faced terrorism charges Monday under a reconfigured military tribunal system that critics say remains unconstitutional.

A 15-year-old held at Guantanamo for nearly 5 years, and now a day before his arraignment, the U.S. says he’s actually “outside the jurisdiction” of the tribunal system.

[mike_c]

1. I'm sensing a hot potato being dropped....

Doesn't this make him a legal POW? And if so, can't he be held without further charges until the "end" of the war? Doesn't that serve the U.S. government's purposes with respect to this detainee just as well as the unlawful designation would? I mean, sure, it placed him under the Geneva Conventions, but they've already had him in Guantanamo for five years and how much intel could they reasonably expect in the future from a kid who was fifteen at the time of capture?

Doesn't this ruling close the files on a potentially embarrassing case for the gov't?

[sinkingfeeling]

2. "Outside the jurisdiction"... what does that mean? Will he be freed?

[tuvor]

7. Not according to the CBC.

An American military judge abruptly dropped all charges on Monday against Omar Khadr, although it's unlikely to mean freedom for the only Canadian at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

Much more at http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/06/04/khadr-charges.html

[Buzz Clik]

3. Sonofabitch! 5 friggin' years to decide it's outside their jurisdiction?

Damnit! This is EXACTLY why we have been bitching about this from the beginning. These people had no access to the legal system and were never granted any sort of trial.

The black eye given this country by this administration will be very slow to heal.

:grr:

[nam78_two]

4. I read Rolling Stone's article "The never-ending torture of Omar Khadr"

It was haunting...

[uppityperson]

5. 15 yrs old-20, in GITMO, inexplicable. k&r, those utter bastards

[Disturbed]

6. Only things left to say right now is:

Shameful!!!