By Kenneth J. Theisen
Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen, was only 15 when he became a prisoner of the U.S. war of terror in 2002. He was accused of throwing a grenade at U.S. invaders in Afghanistan. He is now 23 and a defendant in kangaroo proceedings known as a military tribunal.
But Omar has defiantly refused to go along with the game plan of the Obama administration.
On May 29th he refused to appear before the kangaroo court. The military attempted to bring him to the proceedings wearing goggles and earmuffs. The military claimed these were necessary “security precautions.”
Marine Corps Captain Laura Bruzzese told the tribunal that Omar stated, “The only purpose is to humiliate me,” when refusing to leave his cell in the goggles and earmuffs.
A tribunal judge and colonel, Patrick Parrish, stated he would order Omar to be forcibly brought to court to advise him of his rights. The judge refused to order that the defendant be brought to court without goggles or earmuffs. Due to his extensive previous abuse at the hands of the U.S. military, Omar has already lost the sight in his left-eye and has poor vision in his right eye. But apparently this is not enough for the military which prefers to keep him completely blind and disoriented with the goggles.
How Omar is being treated has been an outstanding issue in this case. The “hearing” which he refused to attend was supposed to determine whether “self-incriminating statements” should be excluded as evidence. The defense argues that these statements were made as the result of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment – torture. Omar was interrogated more than 100 times at two of the most notorious hell holes run by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay and Bagram air base in Afghanistan.
The irony is that he is now being subjected to kangaroo proceedings at Gitmo. It was over a year ago that Obama claimed he would shut down this torture chamber. Not only is it not shut down, it is the place where Omar is being held, and where he may be tried if the administration gets its way. It is also the ultimate arrogance for the revival of military tribunals to begin with one of the youngest prisoners of the war of terror.
It should surprise no one that Obama administration lawyers also wish to use statements obtained as the result of torture in these proceedings.
In many cases against so-called “terrorists” the only “evidence” the U.S. has are such statements. If the government can not use these, the “cases” would fall apart. The U.S. imperialists have already been embarrassed enough by the fact that it has had to release hundreds who were captured and held for years in U.S.-run hell holes despite their innocence.
Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada Alex Neve stated, "In January 2009, there was great hope and tremendous expectation that this whole sorry exercise in injustice at Guantanamo Bay was going to come to an end, certainly that by April 2010 we wouldn’t be facing any military commission hearings at Guantanamo Bay, let alone a hearing involving someone who was 15 years old at the time of the alleged offense."
This case exposes the reality of the Obama administration. Obama has made many public relations gestures about shutting down Gitmo, ending torture, providing real court trials instead of kangaroo proceedings, “getting back” to real American justice, etc. But when it comes down to reality, his administration has continued the policies and practices of the Bush regime. They deserved condemnation and opposition when done by that regime and they deserve the same now. We must expose that this is real American justice under imperialism.