First trial of Gitmo prisoner under Obama administration to begin

Source: CNN

Canadian citizen Omar Khadr, the youngest detainee in the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay, was captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan in 2002 when he was only 15. Now 23, he is set to go on trial, charged with terrorist acts for al Qaeda and the killing of a U.S. Special Forces soldier.

His Pentagon-appointed lawyer, Lt. Col. Jon Jackson, tried and failed to have the trial stopped -- the Supreme Court denied his request Friday. And depending on the time devoted to a variety of motions, the trial could begin as soon as Monday.


Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, ripped into the U.S. and Canadian governments for not halting the terrorism trial.

"Amnesty International has been a strong critic of the Military Commission process, really from day one, and even the various improvements and changes that have been made over the years have not, in our view, turned this into what can be considered a legal process that meets international fair trial standards," Neve told CNN Sunday.

Canada's top court ruled in January that Khadr's rights were violated when Canadian spies interrogated the Toronto-born man and shared information with his U.S. prosecutors, according to the Toronto Star newspaper. Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson sent a diplomatic note in response to the ruling, seeking the Obama administration's assurances that information from Canada would not be used at Khadr's trial, the newspaper reported.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/08/guantanamo.youngest.detainee/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

what the timeline on this thing will be. It will not go down well for us if there is an acquittal just before the election.

It's only a matter of time before a 12 year old is tried. Just one of many screwed up provisions in this Bush Act. There's no nonpolitical reason why the Obama administration is using it.

"There's no nonpolitical reason why the Obama administration is using it."

What makes you think Obama isn't proceeding with this because he supports it.

People say one thing on the campaign trail, and quite another once they get in to office.