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OMAR KHADR RECEIVES $10.5 MILLION SETTLEMENT

Posted by Conspiracy Cafe on July 6, 2017

Two soldiers kneel over the wounded Khadr.

Firefight and capture

From approximately February 2002, a team of American soldiers were using the abandoned Soviet airbase in Khost, Afghanistan, as an intelligence-gathering outpost, where they tried to blend in and gain the trust of the local community.[22] In the early morning of July 27, 2002, a team made up of 19th Special Forces Group, the 505th Infantry Regiment and a "militia" of approximately twenty[25] Afghan fighters loyal to the warlord Pacha Khan Zadran and led by his brother Kamal, had been sent from the airbase on a reconnaissance mission.[22][25][26][27][28] The US forces' search turned up no evidence against the occupants of a house they checked out.[29][30]

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1. Five Service Members Wounded in Afghan Ambush

2. Five Injured in most recent Afghan firefight awarded Purple Hearts

While the US soldiers were at the house, a report came in that a monitored satellite phone had just been used 300–600 metres from the group's location.[25][28][29] Seven soldiers were sent to investigate the site of the phone call.[22][25] Led by Major Randy Watt, the group included XO Captain Mike Silver, Sgt Christopher Speer, Layne Morris and Master Sgt. Scotty Hansen, the latter three from the 19th Special Forces Group; Spc. Christopher J. Vedvick from the 505th, and his fire team.[22][25][31]

The men reached a residential complex with earthen huts and a granary surrounded by a 10-foot (3.0 m) stone wall, with a green metal gate approximately 100 metres from the main hut. They saw children playing around the buildings[14][30][32][33] and an old man sleeping under a nearby tree.[25]

American soldiers standing outside the compound

Seeing five men he described as "well-dressed," sitting around a fire in the main residence, with AK-47s visible in the room, Morris has said that he either approached and told the occupants to open the front door[33] or that he stayed out of sight, returned to his men and set up a perimeter around the complex.[25] Either way, the team waited 45 minutes for support from the soldiers searching the first residence. At one point, Morris chided the soldiers from the 82nd for setting up a defensive perimeter with their backs to the house, rather than covering the house.[25][28]

A crowd of approximately 100 local Afghans had gathered around the area to watch the incident unfold.[33] An Afghan militiaman was sent toward the house to demand the surrender of the occupants, but retreated under gunfire.[29]

Capt. Christopher W. Cirino

Reinforcements from the 3rd Platoon of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion 505th Infantry Regiment arrived under the command of Captain Christopher W. Cirino,[32][34] bringing the total number of Americans and Afghan militia to about fifty.[35]Two of Zadran's militia were sent into the compound to speak with the residents; they returned to the US position and reported that the men claimed to be Pashtun villagers. The Americans told them to return and say the Americans wanted to search their house regardless of their affiliation.[34] Upon hearing this, the occupants of the hut opened fire, shooting both militiamen.[30][36]

Several women fled the huts and ran away, while the occupants began throwing grenades at the American troops, with intermittent rifle fire. After the firefight, one of the soldiers contradicted this, saying only one woman and one child were present, and both were detained by US forces after exiting the huts.[29]

Morris and Silver took up positions outside the stone wall,[22] when Morris fell back into Silver, with a cut above his right eye and shrapnel embedded in his nose. Both Silver and Morris first thought the wound was due to Morris's rifle malfunctioning, but it was later attributed to an unseen grenade.[22][37] In an alternate account, Morris has said that he was inside the compound and hiding behind the granary, preparing to fire a grenade into a wall of the house, when he was shot.[25] Morris was dragged a safe distance from the action, and was shortly after joined by Spc. Michael Rewakowski, Pfc. Brian Worth and Spc. Christopher J. Vedvick, who had also been wounded by the grenade attacks.[38]

At 9:10 UTC, they sent a request for MedEvac to the 57th Medical Detachment. Ten minutes later, a pair of UH-60s were deployed, with AH-64 Apaches as escort. Arriving at the scene, the Apaches strafed the compound with cannon and rocket fire, while the medical helicopters remained 12 miles (19 km) from the ongoing firefight.[26] The helicopters landed at 10:28 UTC to load the wounded aboard.[26][39] A pair of A-10 Warthogs performed gun runs and dropped 500lb bombs on the compound.[22][26]

Speer being unloaded at Bagram

At this point,[29] a five-vehicle convoy of ground reinforcements arrived, bringing the number of troops to approximately 100.[35] Two of these vehicles were damaged beyond use by the militants.[29] Ten minutes later, the MedEvac left for Bagram Airbase and planes arrived, bombing the houses along with the helicopters.[29] The MedEvac reached Bagram Airfield at 1130.[25][26]

Unaware that Khadr and a militant had survived the bombing, the ground forces sent a team consisting of OC-1,[29]Silver, Speer and three Delta Force soldiers[40] through a hole in the south side of the wall.[41]

The team began picking their way over dead animals and the bodies of three fighters.[22] According to Silver's 2007 telling of the event, he heard a sound "like a gunshot", and saw the three Delta Force soldiers duck; a grenade went by them and exploded near Speer at the rear of the group, "wearing Afghan garb and helmetless."[22][42][43][44]OC-1 reported that although he didn't hear any gunfire, the dust from the north side of the complex led him to believe the team was under fire from a shooter between the house and barn. He reported that a grenade was "lobbed" over the wall that led to the alley and landed 30–50 metres from the alley opening. Running towards the alley to escape the grenade, OC-1 fired a dozen M4 Carbine rounds into the alley as he ran past, although he couldn't see anything due to dust clouds. Crouching at the southeast entrance to the alleyway, OC-1 could see a man with a holstered pistol and two chest wounds moving on the ground next to an AK-47. From his position, OC-1 fired a single shot into the man's head, killing him.[29] When the dust cleared, OC-1 saw Khadr crouched on his knees facing away from the action and wounded by shrapnel (it had just permanently blinded his left eye);[30] he shot the youth twice in the back.[29]

OC-1 estimated that all the events since entering the wall had taken less than a minute up until this point, and that he had been the only American to fire his weapon. The soldiers threw an American grenade into the living quarters after first entering the complex.[29][45] Silver initially claimed that two Delta Force troops had opened fire, shooting all three of the shots into Khadr's chest, after the youth was seen to be holding a pistol and facing the troops.[22][30]These claims all directly contradict OC-1's version of events as the only eyewitness. OC-1 did agree however, that something was lying in the dust near Khadr's end of the alley, although he couldn't remember if it was a pistol or grenade.[29]

Entering the alleyway, OC-1 saw two dead men with a damaged AK-47 buried in rubble; he believed they had been killed in the airstrikes,[29] and confirmed that the man he had shot was dead. Moving back to Khadr, OC-1 tapped the motionless youth's eye, and found that he was alive. Turning him over onto his back for entering troops to secure, OC-1 began exiting the alleyway to find Speer, whom he was unaware had been wounded. While leaving the alleyway, he saw a third AK-47 and several grenades.[29] Contradicting Morris's report of five well-dressed men, OC-1 said that his search of the rubble determined there had been only four occupants, all found in the same alleyway.[29]

Khadr being treated by medics

Khadr was given on-site medical attention, during which time he repeatedly asked the medics to kill him, surprising them with his English. An officer present later recorded in his diary that he was about to tell a private to kill the badly wounded Khadr, when Delta Force soldiers ordered them not to harm the prisoner.[46] He was loaded aboard aCH-47 helicopter and flown to Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, losing consciousness aboard the flight.[29][47]

Khadr had accompanied three of the men he was staying with, as they went to Ayub Kheyl, to meet with other militants. Neither of his parents was told about the meeting. After learning of the battle, Ahmed reportedly shouted at Abu Laith al-Libi for not taking better care of his son.[14][23][48]

Aftermath

Remains of the structure after bombing

The following day, soldiers including Silver returned to search the premises.[29] Local villagers were believed to have taken away the bodies of the two men killed and given them an Islamic burial. They refused to disclose the location to the Americans, who wanted to identify the fighters.[14]

Believing that the wooden boards beneath the last-killed rifleman could have been used to cover an underground chamber,[29] the soldiers used an excavator to tear down the walls of the buildings. They uncovered five boxes of rifle ammunition, two rockets, two grenades and three rocket-propelled grenades in the huts. Some had accidentally detonated while lying in the smouldering ruins.[14][49] A plastic bag was discovered in the granary, containing documents, wires and a videocassette.[14] OC-1's report claims the videotape was found in the main house, rather than the granary, and also mentioned detonators modeled as Sega game cartridges.[29] The video shows Khadr toying with detonating cord as other men, including one later identified as Abu Laith al-Libi, assemble explosives in the same house that had been destroyed the day before by US forces. It is identifiable by its walls, rugs and the environment seen out the windows in the video.[22][29] The men plant landmines while smiling and joking with the cameraman.[14][33][50] A Voice of America report suggested that these were the landmines later recovered by American forces on a road between Gardez and Khost.[29]

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Ab Khail VOA Report

The BBC said the US forces and militia had come under small arms fire; a US source noted it was the first time the enemy "had stood his ground" since Operation Anaconda had ended four months earlier.[38][51] Hansen and Watt were both awarded a Bronze Star, for running forward under fire to retrieve two fallen bodies. Sources differ on whether these were wounded American soldiers, including Layne Morris, or the two Afghan militiamen shot at the outset.[22][52] The five wounded men were awarded Purple Hearts.[38] Speer was moved from Bagram airbase to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where he was removed from life support on August 7 and died; his heart, liver, lungs and kidneys were donated for use by other patients.[14]

CONTINUED:

COMMENT:

From reading this I feel Omar Khadr was most likely being murdered by U.S. forces. He was being shot in the back twice. By some miracle he survived. Imagine your home was invaded by a foreign military without warrant or just cause. Most Americans would say they would have the right to defend it. Omar and those around him did. Of course there ended up being 100 soldiers and air strikes in this battle. One was killed. His name was Christopher Speer. The U.S. alleges he was murdered by Omar Khadr who threw a grenade in the encounter. In a forum with some Canadian lawyers I wrote this reply. They were livid the settlement was paid. The settlement was for abuse of process not the fight in Afghanistan. They are two separate issues. We are condoning hundreds of years of due process of law and justice being tossed aside as we digress to the torture star chamber styles of justice in the dark ages on THE INQUISITION. You should vomit at the prospect.

My comment to some jurists I forum with:

The down side of the war was that it was an act of aggression by a sovereign state, the United States, asking another sovereign state, Afghanistan, to hand over Bin Laden. Afghanistan asked for proof as would be required in any extradition proceeding. None was provided. The only 'proof' was that it was reported on TV news the bastion of fake news that he was responsible. In the art of war making a false flag attack has always been the preferred method. It wasn't long before 9/11 that the Pearl Harbor files were declassified. Memos were written to the forces at Pearl to not fire on the approaching Japanese. They came from the Chief of the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of War. The Americans, Dutch and British had broken the Japanese codes and knew exactly what was coming. The allies wanted America in the war. It was rabidly unpopular. After the 'surprise' attack it was rabidly popular. That is the essence of war. You need a strong emotional reason to get into one.

Come the 21st century the neocons wrote a study called The Project for a New American Century. In the document they stress the need for a new Pearl Harbor. Osama Bin Laden was an American intelligence operative in the Russian war in Afghanistan. He was their boy. The age old concept of cui bono reveals the active party. It was the neocon element of the Administration not Al Qaeda which was a CIA army in the last war. The U.S. was conducting several drills that day including hijacked aircraft. Fighter aircraft were diverted away from the targets actually scrambled out over the Atlantic. Someone wanted a new Pearl Harbor. Bin Laden could have no influence in that matter so his guilt, if any, was as a minor player at best. The best that could be offered might well implicate the government seeking Bin Laden in the classic patsy role. These events are well established American strategies documented in Operation Northwoods a cold war plan to lure Cuba into a war. It involved allowing or committing attacks on American assets to gain a casus belli for war. These are the oldest tricks in the book, but the intelligence history is not taught in school. It has been my passion in history.

So the refusal of Afghanistan to surrender Bin Laden was the cause for the war and the invasion. The only law used was the law of the jungle might makes right. Not being agreed to or accepted as a tenant, it was illegal. The invading forces had no international rationale and were not granted permission to enter another sovereign state until the regime change principle was put into effect. The invasion was tantamount to a home invasion. A resident of the 'home' resisted the illegal invasion with force as a party not employed by the state exercising his perceived duty as a citizen with an overpowered or dysfunctional government. In that context he employed deadly force on the invading army. A soldier of that army was killed. All parties have no real color of right. The resister was captured and transited to a foreign country. He was not tried in his country because he had a defense resisting an illegal state aggression. He was not taken to the United States to face an impartial system because the holes in the case should have gotten him acquitted. Using deadly force to stop a person using deadly force without lawful excuse should garner an acquittal. Basically kidnapping a person outside of the sovereignty of the invaded nation and removing him to a territory without status is an insult to the alleged value system we claim to have. It is based on a fabric of laws not emotions. The crime is redundant compared to the due process. The main factor is the accused is INNOCENT until proven guilty. Lowering the quality of the due process is not the answer. If you have a case, it can stand the light of day. If you don't have a case, you don't turn out the lights and descend to a system akin to the dark ages INQUISITION.

February 2003 interrogation by CSIS agents

Whether Khadr was guilty or not is immaterial to the standards of evolutionary justice. By throwing the standards away and introducing gross human rights abuses, we reversed centuries of progress that too many have died for. If the supreme law of the land is the law of the jungle, and I contend it is because societies tend to abrogate true jurisprudence and follow the mob emotion in a perceived crime all too often all is for not, and we might as well live as disjointed tribes killing and slaughtering ad hoc for might makes right. If we desire to live as civilized human beings, then the law must be paramount even if it offends our platitudes. For what are we without it another form of evil that we damn the defendant for.

Due process was not followed starting the war. Due process was not followed prosecuting the case. A proper defense was never truly attempted in a military tribunal system. They are the epitome of kangaroo courts to give a semblance of justice where none actually exist. In those days they were a step or two above a lynch mob. If there was a criminal party in this affair it was the president who authorized the illegal invasion in the first place. You should never be culpable for defending your home or homeland from a deadly force invasion, but of course the victor writes the verdict after the wars are over based on whatever perception caused might to be right no matter how lacking in legal concepts it was.

Khadr was paid for the abuses of the process not the perceived crime. They are two distinct issues. He did not abuse process; the state did. If you wanted to nail him to a cross, you were required to follow the rules. In this debacle I see all parties bear responsibility because none of them clearly exercised the color or right. From the president on down and to a greater extent the propaganda organs we call a free press the true issues were swept under the rug. The system of rules we adhere to must be the substance of our lives and our manner of exercising jurisprudence. If our rules are superfluous than so is our society. It is the first step in a descent to anarchy as a failed state. There is nothing to celebrate. There is much to repair, but as Einstein said you can't expect the ones who created the problem to have the ability to correct it, and worse those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it and that's why these ruses to war are so effective.