The resolution of the military-commission trial of Gitmo detainee Omar Khadr is likely to be cited in the future as a textbook example of why the military commissions are a bad idea. As part of a plea deal, Khadr recently confessed to charges of "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," based on his involvement in a firefight in Afghanistan in 2002 that killed an American service member, Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer. Khadr, who was born into a family with strong connections to al-Qaeda, was 15 at the time, making his trial, in the eyes of human-rights advocates, the first trial of a child soldier "in modern history."
Khadr's mistreatment in U.S. custody -- he was even threatened with rape -- would have made his trial difficult even if he hadn't been a child accused, essentially, of killing the other side's soldiers in a time of war. But the fact that there had been an actual life lost meant that the administration didn't see letting him go without a trial as politically feasible. By the time the administration had reached a plea deal, enough of the process had gone forward that the details of Khadr's mistreatment had already been aired publicly, alongside what Jeff Kaye points out is the embarrassing orientalist pseudoscience concocted by psychologist Dr. Michael Welner and submitted on the prosecution's behalf.
This weekend, as Carol Rosenberg reported, a military jury at Gitmo deliberated over Khadr's sentence following dramatic testimony from Speer's widow, Tabitha Speer, to whom Khadr offered an apology. Nonetheless, the jury sentenced him to 40 years at Gitmo, an entirely symbolic verdict that is preempted by a plea deal with the Canadian government under which Khadr will serve another year at Gitmo before being transferred to Canadian custody to serve the remainder of his eight-year sentence. Because parole his handled by the independent National Parole Board, Khadr will be eligible for parole after a third of his sentence and statutory release after two-thirds. The Canadian government can't actually guarantee Khadr's confinement beyond the first third of his sentence. The eight years at Gitmo Khadr has already served don't count.
So if you believe this trial shouldn't have taken place because Khadr was a child at the time of the event in question and because Khadr's confessions were given after being abused in U.S. custody, then the whole thing is a travesty anyway. But if you think that he's completely culpable, he's received a light sentence he might not serve in its entirety. The administration has neither been spared the embarrassment of trying someone for war crimes committed while they were 15 years old nor the political vulnerability of securing a light sentence typical of military-commissions trials.
Al-Qaeda, in the meantime, has its propaganda symbol -- a child abused and then tried for war crimes that amount to resisting a foreign invasion of a Muslim country. Like I said months ago -- this was never going to end well. As it stands, U.S. interests lie in making sure Khadr is rehabilitated completely -- and freed from the destiny implied by his family's terrorist background. Khadr is already an al-Qaeda propaganda symbol, the only thing that could be worse is if he someday becomes a martyr.
