Tag Archives: Omar Khadr

Should US torturers of 15-year-old combatant Omar Khadir stay unnamed?

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Extending the jurisdiction of military tribunals to civilians and adversaries is not simply unpopular, it’s illegal, and America’s kangaroo courts in Guantanamo mock even self respect. Right now we’re prosecuting Afghanistan combatant Omar Khadr, captured when he was age 15, for lobbing a grenade toward US invaders (are any of our GIs guilty of less?) meanwhile obscuring the identity of American soldiers culpable of torture and murder. Last week four key reporters were banned from Guantanamo proceedings for having revealed the name of “Interrogator #1” guilty of past episodes for abuse of detainees including a death. His name: US Army Specialist Joshua Claus.

How many of these anonymity-seeking torturers can we out on the web? From mercenaries to repentant vets, the least we can do for the memories of their victims and their captives’ loved ones is to publish their identities in public.

You might see the wisdom in protecting the confidentiality of witnesses who were victims of sexual abuse, but perps? Of course a chief problem of military tribunals in addition to permitting testimony obtained through torture is the use of unnamed accusers. Convictions obtained through tribunals will stand up so long as the USA reigns omniscient, but in the eyes of international justice, the US and its torturers remain criminals at large.

White House tortures 15 year old at Guantanamo then charges him 5 years later with murder!

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Everything about Guantanamo is utterly repugnant beyond belief, but the torture of children there is the worst abomination of all. The case of Omar Khadr is one example amongst many, and shows that the US government is utterly lacking in any moral values at all.

Omar was captured in Afghanistan in July, 2002,and rather than being held as a POW as should have been the case by international law, he was treated as a common criminal. Those who think the UN is some sort of great international body of peacemakers should think some about this case. The UN is totally complicit in what is going on at Guantanamo and the other US secret camps of torture. It is shameful how the UN has totally deteriorated under US domination.

Omar was only 15 when he was captured, and he has been held and tortured without any rights what -so-ever given him, for almost 5 years now. He is being charged with supposed crimes that would have been committed when he was much younger, even to times when he was less than 10 years old! Sickening. The US invaded and occupied his country, and he, a child, is now being criminally charged by the White House. He has only had the most flimsiest of pretexts at any legal representation, and besides, he is Prisoner of War, not a common criminal. This is Kangaroo Democracy and Kangaroo Court at its most banal level of total evil. Our press and our society are acting as if torturing a child soldier is somehow normal behavior by its government. It is not, and we should all be ashamed of what is being done in our name.