so is bush, a terrorist

T.O. teen `indeed a terrorist,' U.S. insists
Prosecutor says Khadr deserves life
Hearing begins today in Guantanamo

Jan. 11, 2006. 01:00
MICHELLE SHEPHARD
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GUANTANAMO , CUBAÑ Calling Toronto-born Omar Khadr a terrorist and mocking news stories that describe him as a tortured teenager, the chief U.S. military prosecutor says he wants to see Canada's only detainee on this naval base locked up for life.

Khadr, 19, is expected to appear before a military commission today for a pre-trial hearing on a charge of murder, but a tough-talking Col. Morris Davis began his prosecution in front of reporters yesterday.

"You'll see evidence when we get into the courtroom of the smiling face of Omar Khadr as he builds bombs to kill Americans," Davis said. "It's my belief that the evidence will show he is indeed a terrorist."

Khadr faces life in prison if convicted of murder, a charge stemming from a July 2002 grenade attack in Afghanistan that killed U.S. 1st Class Sgt. Christopher Speer and injured Sgt. Layne Morris. Khadr was shot in the chest, stomach and eye before being captured by U.S. forces at the age of 15.

Davis said it was "sometimes nauseating" to read descriptions of Khadr in the media including those that described him as almost blind and near death when captured near Khost, Afghanistan.

"You'll see pictures of Mr. Khadr that look like he's almost dead but thanks to the American medics, who stepped over their dead friends and tended to Mr. Khadr, he's alive today," Davis said. He noted that Sgt. Morris is blind in one eye as a result of his injuries and had to retire from the military.

One of the allegations facing Khadr is that he attended an Al Qaeda training camp as a young teenager.

Yesterday, Davis quipped: "These guys went to camp and you know they weren't making s'mores or learning how to tie knots. They were learning how to make bombs and kill Americans."

Khadr's hearing was originally set to begin yesterday but was postponed out of respect for the Muslim holiday of Eid Al Adha.

"Normally, Mr. Khadr and his family spent Eid with the Osama bin Laden family, so I'm sure he's upset he's here and not in Afghanistan with Osama bin Laden. He's a terrorist," Davis added at the end of his statement to reporters representing 14 international media organizations.

Khadr is the second youngest son of Ahmed Said Khadr, a reputed Canadian Al Qaeda financier and close associate with bin Laden. He was killed in October 2003 by Pakistani forces.

Davis also countered criticism of the tribunal process itself, in which the military serves as both prosecutor and judge. Civil rights and defence lawyers, as well as some foreign governments such as Britain, have argued the proceedings are unconstitutional and want the detainees tried in U.S. criminal courts.

"Some say we're making up the rules as we go along but the law has to adapt to today's environment," Davis told reporters, saying Al Qaeda is unlike any "enemy faced before."

"We've got nothing to be ashamed of in what we're doing here. So we want you, we want the public, we want the world to see that we're extending a full, fair and open trial to the terrorists that have attacked us. We're extending rights to them that they have never contemplated."

From the moment that you land at the U.S. naval base camp in Cuba, it's obvious that there's a concerted effort underway to refute claims of mistreatment and torture at the camp. Tours for journalists and other visitors always include a visit to Camp X-Ray, where four years ago today, the first terrorism suspects were detained. The outdoor wire cages that resemble kennels are now overgrown with vines and the only occupants are a family of local banana rats.

This is where photos were taken of kneeling, shackled detainees in blacked-out goggles and others being wheeled on gurneys to interrogation rooms. The photos sparked an outcry from human rights groups. Maj. Jeffrey Weir is quick to point out that some rights groups and media outlets still use these images to portray Guantanamo when it hasn't been used since April 2002.

Detainees are now kept at a centre known as Camp Delta, cut off from the rest of the base by hills of inhospitable terrain littered with cacti.

Built on a stunning coastline one detainees don't see through the mesh covering the fence the detention centre consists of four inner camps with varying degrees of security.

Camps 3 and 4 are used for what's known as "non-compliant" prisoners, those clad in orange and closely monitored. On a visit yesterday, one such detainee could be seen using a walker with guards walking with him on either side.

There's a small fenced-in recreation area where an arrow points to Mecca and gives the distance as 12,793 kilometres. In the cells, Qur'ans hang in surgical masks, so, as Cmdr. Catie Hanft explains, "we're aware where it is so we don't touch it."

Hanft has been at the base for four months and is in charge of all the guards inside the gate who promptly salute her and say "honour bound," as she passes.

A 42-year-old New Yorker, with green eyes and red hair, Hanft has acquired the name of "Red Hammer 1" since coming to the camp because she's known for her strict enforcement of the rules. She's personally hurt, she says, by allegations of torture of detainees in her custody.

"This does bother me because I know the sailors and soldiers here and I know they don't do the things people say they're doing."

Camp 4 is the only communal living space, where detainees are permitted to live in rooms with nine others and there's a common area where food is brought on metal picnic tables. They're all dressed in white and most have long beards and appear tired of the media attention and retreat into their rooms when cameras appear.

It's unlikely Khadr has ever been kept here. According to his Washington-based lawyer Muneer Ahmad, who visited him yesterday, he has been kept almost entirely in segregation, at a detention facility known as Camp 5, outside of Camp Delta.

As for Khadr's allegations of torture that the soldiers here refute, Ahmad said yesterday he has "credible evidence."