A lawyer for a Gitmo detainee has said it seems ‘the government manufactured evidence to make it look like [the accused] was guilty.’ Does Bush Administration Alter Evidence on Guantanamo Detainees?By Cliff Montgomery – Mar. 14th, 2008A U.S. military commander inserted possible fabrications into an Afghanistan battle report which wrongly blames a captured Canadian youth for a Delta Force commando’s death, said a defense attorney on Thursday.The lawyer, Navy Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, stated the charge during a pre-trial hearing as an argument for access to this commander, only identified in official documents as “Col. W.”Kuebler also argued for details about the interrogations of his client, adding they may clear him of war-crimes charges.The American military currently charges Omar Khadr with the murder of Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer during a July 27, 2002, U.S. raid on an al-Qaeda hideout in eastern Afghanistan. Khadr now is accused with throwing the grenade which killed Sgt. Speer.But there is a question about that accusation. The official report from “Col. W.” on the raid, filed the day after this tragic occurrence, first declared that the assailant who tossed the grenade was himself killed during the battle.If true, it must mean that Khadr cannot not be the killer.But the official report was altered months later–though it retained the same date–to claim that an American fighter merely had “engaged” Speer’s killer, said Kuebler. The attorney added that this modified document was given to him by Bush Administration prosecutors as an “updated” record of the battle.Khadr’s strange detainee case may become the first to be tried by military tribunal at the U.S. Navy’s Guantanamo Base (nicknamed “Gitmo”), located in southeast Cuba.Kuebler later told reporters that it seems “the government manufactured evidence to make it look like Omar was guilty.””Prosecutors did not contest Kuebler’s account in court and did not immediately respond to a request for comment,” an Associated Press (AP) article flatly stated.Khadr, who was 15 years old at the time of his capture, is one of the roughly 80 detainees this White House hopes to prosecute at Gitmo. About 12 of the 275 prisoners held at the naval base, including Khadr, have been officially charged with committing war crimes.Kuebler believes the trial probably will turn on statements which Khadr made under “interrogation” during his stay at Bagram air base’s military prison in Afghanistan. The defense lawyer asked the court to provide him with lists of both the names and the techniques of Khadr’s interrogators.Though their names currently are not being shared with Kuebler, the defense attorney has said that Khadr’s interrogators “included members of a unit implicated in the December 2002 beating deaths of two Afghan detainees, named Dilawar and Habibullah,” according to the AP story.Like what you’re reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of thee-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!
How Necessary Laws Are Killed These Days
Lawmakers generally only fight to protect the things they care about – and all too often, that just doesn’t include the lives of most of their constituents.
