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<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> <B>Judge Dismisses Charges
Against Teen Gitmo Detainee</B> <BR> By Andrew O. Selsky
<BR> The Associated Press </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> Monday 04
June 2007 </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> Guantanamo
Bay Naval Base, Cuba - A military judge on Monday dismissed terrorism-related
charges against a prisoner charged with killing an American soldier in
Afghanistan, in a stunning reversal for the Bush administration's attempts to
try Guantanamo detainees in military court. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> The chief of
military defense attorneys at Guantanamo Bay, Marine Col. Dwight Sullivan, said
the ruling could spell the end of the war crimes trial system set up last year
by Congress and President Bush after the Supreme Court threw out the previous
system. The ruling immediately raised questions about whether the U.S. will have
to further revise procedures for prosecuting prisoners, leading to major delays.
</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> Canadian
detainee Omar Khadr, who was 15 when he was captured after a deadly firefight in
Afghanistan and who is now 20, will remain at the remote U.S. military base
along with some 380 other men suspected of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.
</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> The judge,
Army Col. Peter Brownback, said he had no choice but to throw out the Khadr case
because he had been classified as an "enemy combatant" by a military panel years
earlier - and not as an "alien unlawful enemy combatant." </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> The Military
Commissions Act, signed by President Bush last year, says only those classified
as "unlawful" enemy combatants can face war trials here, Brownback noted during
the arraignment in a hilltop courtroom. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> Sullivan said
the dismissal has "huge" impact because none of the detainees held at this
isolated military base in southeast Cuba has been found to be an "unlawful"
enemy combatant. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> "It is not
just a technicality; it's the latest demonstration that this newest system just
does not work," Sullivan told journalists. "It is a system of justice that does
not comport with American values." </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> Sullivan said
that in order to reclassify the detainees as "unlawful" combatants, the whole
review system would have to be overhauled, a time-consuming act.
</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> Carl Tobias,
a law professor at the University of Richmond, said that because Brownback
dismissed the case without prejudice, the U.S. may be able to retry Khadr. He
also said it is unclear whether all detainees would have to be reclassified.
</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> A prosecuting
attorney said he would appeal the dismissal. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> The new
war-crimes trial system gives prosecutors 72 hours to appeal, but the court
designated to hear the appeal doesn't even exist, Sullivan noted.
</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> The only
other Guantanamo detainee currently charged with crimes is Salim Ahmed Hamdan,
who is accused of chauffeuring Osama bin Laden and being the al-Qaida chief's
bodyguard. His arraignment was scheduled for Monday afternoon.
</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> The third
detainee charged under the new system, Australian David Hicks, pleaded guilty in
March to providing material support to al-Qaida and is serving a nine-month
sentence in Australia. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> Brownback's
ruling came just minutes into Khadr's arraignment on charges he committed murder
in violation of the law of war, attempted murder in violation of the law of war,
conspiracy, providing material support for terrorism and spying.
</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> Khadr
allegedly killed a U.S. Army soldier with a grenade in the firefight, in which
he was wounded. He appeared in the courtroom with a beard and wearing an
olive-green prison uniform. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> "The charges
are dismissed without prejudice," Brownback pronounced as he adjourned the
proceeding. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> A prosecutor,
Army Capt. Keith Petty, said he had been prepared to show Khadr was an unlawful
combatant because he fought for al-Qaida, and videotapes showed Khadr making and
planting explosives targeting American soldiers. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> Khadr seemed
oblivious to the ruling. He calmly watched the judge throw out the case -
looking not at Brownback but at a computer screen at the defense table that
showed a live TV broadcast of the proceedings. Khadr could see himself on the
screen </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> The U.S.
military has hoped to accelerate its prosecutions of Guantanamo detainees, with
the Pentagon saying it expects to eventually charge about 80 of the 380
prisoners held at this isolated base, but questions lingered about the
legitimacy of the process. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> The Supreme
Court, ruling in favor of a lawsuit brought by Hamdan, last June threw out a
previous military tribunal system that was set up in the wake of the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks, calling it unconstitutional. Congress responded with new
guidelines for war-crimes trials and Bush signed them into law.
</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> Hamdan's
attorney, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, told The Associated Press that he will
challenge the new system as unconstitutional. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> For example,
the Military Commissions Act retroactively made certain acts, such as conspiracy
a crime, Swift said. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> "This case
raises significant questions" about the separation of powers, Swift said.
"Congress cannot violate the Constitution to fix things ... but they are
backdating anything and making it a crime." </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> Hamdan is
charged with conspiracy - centered on his alleged membership in al-Qaida and
purported role in plotting to attack civilians and civilian targets - and with
providing material support for terrorism. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> As part of
the second charge, Hamdan is accused of transporting at least one SA-7
surface-to-air missile to shoot down U.S. and coalition military aircraft in
Afghanistan in November 2001. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> The son of an
alleged al-Qaida financier, Khadr is accused of killing U.S. Army Sgt.
Christopher Speer with a grenade during a firefight in Afghanistan on July 27,
2002. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> Khadr's
attorneys said he was a child soldier and should be rehabilitated, not
imprisoned. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=1><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> "The U.S.
will be the first country in modern history to try an individual who was a child
at the time of the alleged war crimes," the attorneys said in a joint statement
in April. </FONT></FONT></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>