Tweet
So it gets even more interesting.
The soldier Khadr is accused of killing may've been killed by friendly fire...
The reason for the conflicting stories from the US troops looks like it's cause friendly fire killed their friend, and they're pinning it on this kid. Seems like the military should've done a proper investigation rather than spending years interrogating a child.
The soldier Khadr is accused of killing may've been killed by friendly fire...
Khadr victim killed by friendly fire: lawyers
Expert testimony will indicate an American grenade killed Sgt. Speer
Steven Edwards, Canwest News Service
Published: Friday, July 18, 2008
NEW YORK -- Omar Khadr's defence team says it has expert testimony indicating the soldier he is accused of killing died as a result of injuries inflicted by an American grenade.
The lawyers say the evidence will be added to the results of the defence's wider investigation of the July, 2002, firefight, and show that the American assault had been a "botched operation."
The claim follows the lawyers' release of videotapes of Canadian officials interrogating Mr. Khadr that -- beyond snippets they highlighted showing him crying or pulling at his hair -- include statements he made that the prosecution in his war crimes case will have analyzed.
The contrasting pictures give a glimpse of some of the key opposing arguments when Mr. Khadr's war crimes trial gets underway in early October at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The proposition that U.S. "friendly fire" may have killed Sergeant Christopher Speer has been floated before by the defence, but U.S. navy Lieutenant-Commander Bill Kuebler, Mr. Khadr's Pentagon-appointed attorney, said in an interview the expert testimony has helped them complete what he calls the "first coherent version" of the firefight.
In a report expected soon, one expert will say that Sgt. Speer's injuries are consistent with the types of wounds that fragments of an American- made grenade would have caused. The conclusion of another expert corroborates that finding, Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler says.
Mr. Khadr, now 21, admits in a portion of the seven hours of videotapes released this week there was an abundance of rifles, pistols and grenades in the compound he and other al-Qaeda suspects occupied near Khost, Afghanistan, on the day of the battle.
It is also believed that only the U.S. soldiers who stormed the compound were armed with American-made grenades.
"A war crimes investigator who examined the evidence, without prompting of any kind, offered his opinion that [it] suggested a friendly-fire incident of some kind," Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler said.
"A ballistics expert has expressed the opinion that Sgt. Speer's wounds -- based on photos and description -- are consistent with the fragments expected of an American grenade, rather than a Russian grenade of the type Omar is alleged to have thrown."
Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler said defence interviews of soldiers who had been at the scene suggest a series of poor command decisions led to things going wrong for the American side.
"U.S. forces ... surrounded the compound they knew to be occupied by armed militants," he said. "[Several] were injured, in the words of one of the soldiers we interviewed, because the U.S. troops were ‘just standing around' outside the walls ... instead of being in covered positions."
Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler said that after air strikes were called in "at least one aircraft refused to drop its 500-lb. bombs ... because the commander had positioned [soldiers] too close."
It also emerges publicly for the first time that the commander's goal of flattening the compound using a Humvee-mounted Mark 19 grenade launcher failed when it malfunctioned.
"The Mark 19 got off [only] one round, which landed well beyond the target," Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler said.
Although al-Qaeda suspects were still alive in the compound, U.S. soldiers entered. "Based on our interviews," Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler said, "it appears that at least two U.S. soldiers threw hand grenades."
Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler said none of the interviewed soldiers "suggested that Speer was hit by friendly fire," and one, Sgt. Layne Morris, told the National Post this week that he had seen Mr. Khadr, then 15, "crouched in the rubble waiting for U.S. troops to get close enough so he could take one of them out."
Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler, who counters Sgt. Morris had been injured and evacuated from the scene ahead of the final assault, argues that had four, instead of just two, 500-lb. bombs been dropped, and the Mark 19 worked, "there is a very good chance that the last individuals in the compound, including Omar, would have been killed, and Sgt. Speer [would be] alive today."
Expert testimony will indicate an American grenade killed Sgt. Speer
Steven Edwards, Canwest News Service
Published: Friday, July 18, 2008
NEW YORK -- Omar Khadr's defence team says it has expert testimony indicating the soldier he is accused of killing died as a result of injuries inflicted by an American grenade.
The lawyers say the evidence will be added to the results of the defence's wider investigation of the July, 2002, firefight, and show that the American assault had been a "botched operation."
The claim follows the lawyers' release of videotapes of Canadian officials interrogating Mr. Khadr that -- beyond snippets they highlighted showing him crying or pulling at his hair -- include statements he made that the prosecution in his war crimes case will have analyzed.
The contrasting pictures give a glimpse of some of the key opposing arguments when Mr. Khadr's war crimes trial gets underway in early October at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The proposition that U.S. "friendly fire" may have killed Sergeant Christopher Speer has been floated before by the defence, but U.S. navy Lieutenant-Commander Bill Kuebler, Mr. Khadr's Pentagon-appointed attorney, said in an interview the expert testimony has helped them complete what he calls the "first coherent version" of the firefight.
In a report expected soon, one expert will say that Sgt. Speer's injuries are consistent with the types of wounds that fragments of an American- made grenade would have caused. The conclusion of another expert corroborates that finding, Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler says.
Mr. Khadr, now 21, admits in a portion of the seven hours of videotapes released this week there was an abundance of rifles, pistols and grenades in the compound he and other al-Qaeda suspects occupied near Khost, Afghanistan, on the day of the battle.
It is also believed that only the U.S. soldiers who stormed the compound were armed with American-made grenades.
"A war crimes investigator who examined the evidence, without prompting of any kind, offered his opinion that [it] suggested a friendly-fire incident of some kind," Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler said.
"A ballistics expert has expressed the opinion that Sgt. Speer's wounds -- based on photos and description -- are consistent with the fragments expected of an American grenade, rather than a Russian grenade of the type Omar is alleged to have thrown."
Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler said defence interviews of soldiers who had been at the scene suggest a series of poor command decisions led to things going wrong for the American side.
"U.S. forces ... surrounded the compound they knew to be occupied by armed militants," he said. "[Several] were injured, in the words of one of the soldiers we interviewed, because the U.S. troops were ‘just standing around' outside the walls ... instead of being in covered positions."
Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler said that after air strikes were called in "at least one aircraft refused to drop its 500-lb. bombs ... because the commander had positioned [soldiers] too close."
It also emerges publicly for the first time that the commander's goal of flattening the compound using a Humvee-mounted Mark 19 grenade launcher failed when it malfunctioned.
"The Mark 19 got off [only] one round, which landed well beyond the target," Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler said.
Although al-Qaeda suspects were still alive in the compound, U.S. soldiers entered. "Based on our interviews," Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler said, "it appears that at least two U.S. soldiers threw hand grenades."
Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler said none of the interviewed soldiers "suggested that Speer was hit by friendly fire," and one, Sgt. Layne Morris, told the National Post this week that he had seen Mr. Khadr, then 15, "crouched in the rubble waiting for U.S. troops to get close enough so he could take one of them out."
Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler, who counters Sgt. Morris had been injured and evacuated from the scene ahead of the final assault, argues that had four, instead of just two, 500-lb. bombs been dropped, and the Mark 19 worked, "there is a very good chance that the last individuals in the compound, including Omar, would have been killed, and Sgt. Speer [would be] alive today."
The reason for the conflicting stories from the US troops looks like it's cause friendly fire killed their friend, and they're pinning it on this kid. Seems like the military should've done a proper investigation rather than spending years interrogating a child.
Comment