Not Tortured
By Marc A. Thiessen
The Corner
The government won a significant victory yesterday when the judge at the military commission trying Omar Khadr at Guantanamo Bay ruled that Khadr’s confession to murdering Special Forces Sergeant First Class Chris Speer was admissible. Khadr’s lawyers had argued that the confession was the result of torture, and thus should be excluded. Canada’s National Post reports:
<<< In a video shown at the hearing yesterday, Mr. Khadr was seen telling Guantanamo Bay guards trying to weigh him for the International Red Cross “God will take…revenge” on the United States.
“I am here in prison, but there are millions of people outside,” he says in the May 2006 clip. “What’s happening to you is not for nothing.”
In the February 2008 affidavit, Mr. Khadr, 23, alleged guards mistreated him during the weighing session, claiming they “pressed on my pressure points.”
The clip appears to show the guards acting with restraint as they push him toward the scale and point out all his “brothers” — a reference to other detainees — had been weighed without protest.
“Come on man, it’s not that bad,” says one after Mr. Khadr claimed the treatment was a “very small example of what’s really going on” at the facility.
“We’re not doing this to hurt you, torture you,” adds another, amid explanations his weight was needed for his health records. >>>
The horror! After reviewing this and other evidence regarding Khadr’s interrogation, the judge ruled that this terrorist was not tortured, nor did his interrogation constitute cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
A victory for the prosecution — and a victory for the truth about Guantanamo Bay.
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