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| Baby Face Khadr pleads guilty to all charges |
| 2010-10-26 |
| [Dawn] A Canadian accused of killing an American soldier as a teenage Al-Qaeda jihad boy pleaded guilty Monday as part of a deal that avoids a war crimes trial for someone labeled a "child soldier" by his defenders. Omar Baby FaceKhadr pleaded to five charges including murder for throwing a grenade that mortally maimed the soldier during a fierce raid on an Al-Qaeda compound in Afghanistan in 2002. The now 24-year-old defendant also admitted to planting improvised bombs and receiving weapons training from the terrorist network. The exact terms of the plea agreement were not immediately disclosed. Khadr will now face a military jury for a sentencing hearing that is expected to last several days. The panel cannot impose a sentence more severe than the plea agreement. His trial had been scheduled to start Monday and he faced a possible life sentence. Dressed in a dark suit instead of the solid color jumpsuits typically worn by prisoners held at the US base in Cuba, the defendant, who was born in Toronto and speaks fluent English, repeatedly answered "yes" to a series of questions from the military judge making sure he understood the charges against him. Khadr, who had previously pleaded not guilty and rejected a plea agreement, stared down at the defense table without making eye contact with the judge. Asked if anyone had made any promises to him so that he would plead guilty, he answered simply "no." "You should only do this if you truly believe it is in your best interests," the judge told him. Earlier, his lawyers had said they hoped to secure an agreement because he faced a possible life sentence under a military tribunal system that they believe favors the prosecution despite changes adopted under President Barack B.O.Obama. "There's not much choice," attorney Dennis Edney said. "He either pleads guilty to avoid trial, or he goes to trial, and the trial is an unfair process." Khadr would be eligible for transfer back to his native Canada after serving the first year of his sentence as part of the agreement, said Army Col. Patrick Parrish, the military judge. Canada's government issued a terse reaction, noting that he had pleaded guilty. "This matter is between Mr. Khadr and the US government. We have no further comment," said Catherine Loubier, a spokeswoman for Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon,in an e-mail. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 For future reference, remember folks. Dead men make no plea bargains. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-10-26 15:32 |
| #3 Happy dreams, Canuckistan sniper. Or of the country music and country boys he'll enjoy in Canadian gaols that you've told us about. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-10-26 13:31 |
| #2 Keep him. We don't want him up here in Canuckistan. Poll conducted by CTV found 73% of us Canuckistanians don't want him back here. Personally, I'd like to see him back here in Canuckistan so that I could take him on a . . . . on a . . . moose hunting trip. Yes, that's the answer, a moose hunting . . . . trip . . . . up north where the lakes are beginning to freeze over. Hmmmmmm. |
| Posted by: Canuckistan sniper 2010-10-26 11:36 |
| #1 He's just a fat bearded clown now. No longer useful as a "child-soldier" poster-muzz to tug at lefty heartstrings. Under the bus you go, son... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2010-10-26 07:56 |