Late Monday, on the eve of Omar Khadr's suppression hearing, the first major military commission hearing at Guantanamo since President Obama took office, the Defense Department released the new Manual for Military Commissions. The Manual is the primary implementing regulation for the Military Commissions Act of 2009, containing detailed procedural guidance, rules of evidence, and a penal code with explanations of the offenses which may be prosecuted in these military tribunals.
On the whole, the 2009 MCA is substantially fairer than the 2006 version of the law and the new Manual also contains some significant improvement over the previous version. The standards for admissibility of coerced statements and hearsay evidence, for example, now are much closer to the standards which apply in general courts-martial and federal court. There is, however, some very troubling language in the new Manual relating to the proof required to convict for certain offenses, which undermines the Obama Administration's claims of respect for the law of war and adherence to the rule of law.
On May 21, 2009, in an important national security speech at the National Archives President Obama explained his rationale for seeking to amend the MCA and keeping military commissions available as one option for trying detainees, "[D]etainees who violate the laws of war. . .are best tried through Military Commissions. Military commissions. . . are an appropriate venue for trying detainees for violations of the laws of war." As Assistant Attorney General David Kris explained to the Senate last July, "The President has made clear that military commissions are to be used only to prosecute law of war offenses."
What President Obama may not have realized, or at least neglected to mention in his speech, is that very few detainees are actually suspected of violating the laws of war. Last summer, I was invited to testify before a Congressional Subcommittee considering proposals to reform the military commissions and I tried to explain this point: "The Obama administration has talked about military commissions being a suitable forum for law of war offenses, and I agree with that. They are a legitimate forum for law of war offenses. But what gets left out of the debate is that there are virtually no law of war offenses to be tried." While I encouraged Congress to limit military commissions to true war crimes, I warned the lawmakers that if reformed military commissions "are limited to law of war offenses. . .there is not going to be anybody to try."
Unfortunately, in enacting the Military Commissions Act of 2009, Congress did not strictly limit the jurisdiction of the military commissions to law of war violations and included non-war crimes like "Providing Material Support to Terrorism," a crime which even the Justice Department was forced to admit was not a traditional law of war offense. The Secretary of Defense, in publishing the new Manual for Military Commissions, has done Congress one better, attempting by regulation to broaden the scope of a real war crime to include conduct that does not violate the law of war in order to ensure convictions where they would otherwise be doubtful. In so doing, Secretary Gates has subverted the will of Congress and undermined the President's law of war justification for military commissions.
Under a 2003 DoD Instruction defining the crimes eligible for trial by the military commissions created by executive order of President Bush, the President attempted to create a new war offense called "murder by an unprivileged belligerent."
The theory underling this offense was that any attempt to fight Americans or coalition forces was a war crime. This status-based definition conflated two different concepts - unprivileged belligerents and war criminals. Under Article 4 of the Geneva Prisoner of War Convention it is clear that while a member of an organized resistance movement or militia may be an unprivileged belligerent (because of not wearing a uniform or failing to carry arms openly, for example) he may still comply with the laws and customs of war, so not all hostile acts committed by unprivileged belligerents are war crimes. Attacks by unprivileged belligerents which comply with the law of war (in that they attack lawful military targets with lawful weapons) may only be tried in domestic courts. In Iraq, for example, insurgents who try to kill Americans by implanting roadside bombs are properly arrested and tried before the Central Criminal Court of Iraq as common criminals. Attacks by unprivileged belligerents which violate the law of war, such as attacks on civilians or soldiers attempting to surrender, or using prohibited weapons like poison gas, can be tried in a war crimes tribunal.
In the 2006 MCA, Congress rejected the status-based crime of Murder by an Unprivileged Belligerent, replacing it with the related, but more narrowly defined, "Murder in Violation of the Law of War." The statute made it plain, as the name implies, that this offense applied only to killings that violated the law of war. Despite this clear distinction, military commission prosecutors argued in three separate cases convened under the 2006 law that "Murder in Violation of the Law of War" really was just "Murder by an Unprivileged Belligerent" by another name, explicitly claiming that the mere status of a person as an unlawful combatant rendered any hostile acts committed by him violations of the law of war. Three separate military judges in three commissions (Salim Hamdan, Mohammed Jawad and Ali al Bahlul) rejected the government's argument, each ruling that the mere status of unprivileged belligerency was insufficient to prove a violation of the law of war. (I was the lead defense counsel in both the Jawad and al Bahlul cases). Congress was well aware of these rulings when it enacted the 2009 MCA -- I specifically mentioned them in my testimony -- but left the definition of "Murder in Violation of the Law of War" unchanged, reflecting their comfort with these judges' interpretation of the crime.
Now, the Department of Defense has once again attempted to revive this discredited interpretation of the offense with a slight twist. In the new Manual the following official comment has been included in explanation of the offense of Murder in Violation of the Law of War: "an accused may be convicted in a military commission. . . if the commission finds that the accused engaged in conduct traditionally triable by military commission (e.g., spying; murder committed while the accused did not meet the requirements of privileged belligerency) even if such conduct does not violate the international law of war." Astoundingly, according to the Pentagon, a detainee may be convicted of murder in violation of the law of war even if they did not actually violate the law of war. It is gratifying that DoD has finally acknowledged officially that status as an unprivileged belligerent --"merely failing to meet the requirements of privileged belligerency" -- does not equate to a violation of the law of war, an argument that I made repeatedly before the commissions and in my congressional testimony. But it is deeply troubling that DoD has nevertheless opined that a non-law of war violation can still constitute murder in violation of the law of war. The commentary also directly contradicts the elements of the offense which specifically include a requirement that the prosecution prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the killing was in violation of the law of war. Although comments in a regulation do not have the force of law, the inclusion of this commentary is clearly intended to send a message to the military commission judges that they are not to let the law of war get in the way of a conviction.
It is no coincidence that this provision was published on the eve of the recommencement of the Omar Khadr commission. Khadr, a Canadian who was just 15 when he was captured in 2002, is charged with murder in violation of the law of war. Khadr allegedly threw a hand grenade which killed a U.S. soldier, but there is no evidence that he violated the law of war in doing so and in court filings the prosecution has admitted to relying solely on his status as an unprivileged belligerent to prove this element of the offense.
The absurdity of claiming that no actual violation of the law of war is required to commit murder in violation of the law of war severely undermines the Administration's claims of commitment to adherence to the rule of law and their pledge to use military commissions only to prosecute law of war offenses. The Administration's alleged devotion to transparency was also undercut by the release of the new manual. The DoD rejected the plea of the National Institute for Military Justice and other civil liberties groups for a public comment period on the draft manual and chose to publish the document as a final product. The obvious contradiction between the legislative intent and the Pentagon's interpretation of this offense demonstrates precisely why a public comment period was needed.
The Administration's decision to press forward with the first war crimes trial of a child soldier in modern history is unfathomable. That the Administration would then try to ensure a conviction by attempting to rewrite the law to create a new war crime is reprehensible.
David Frakt is Associate Professor of Law at Western State University College of Law and a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve JAG Corps. He previously served as lead defense counsel with the Office of Military Commissions. His views are his own and do not reflect the views of the Air Force or the Department of Defense.
I think he qualifies under the 6th point of GC III for POW status. But, re nationality, Khadr had spent a third of his life in Afghanistan by the time he fought in the summer of 2002. His father was an Egyptian Canadian who immersed himself in Afghan humanitarian causes when the Russians invaded and moved his family to that region. Omar had only one year of school in Canada, grade one. Based on the charges and background (Wikipedia) Omar Khadr's only connection to AQ was through his father, who was suspected but never convicted of financing terrorism, and his only involvement was when his father recruted him into the insurgency that summer, through a friend who lead a Lybian faction, to act as a translator and guide because he knew the country and the local language. The case against Khadr is mostly guilt by association. His own actions didn't contstitue a war crime. When he fought, the interim administration was just being set up. He would have qualified for citizenship in a normal country. See also precedent of Yugoslavian tribunal on foreign fighters.
http://www.asil.org/insigh81.cfm
Anyway, thanks for your response and the work you are doing.
Thank you for your comments. I am not suggesting that Khadr should be prosecuted in Afghanistan. What I am saying is that would have been a lawful option at the time he was captured if in fact he committed a crime. It may well be that under Afghan law, he was entitled to use self-defense, or that he might be deemed to be young to be criminally responsible. My point is that if he threw the hand grenade, which is in dispute, that it was not a violation of the law of war. The U.S. government knows this, but as with the Jawad case, they seem determined to push this case as far as it can possibly go, even if it makes the U.S. a laughingstock. Perhaps they have put so many years into trying to convict him that they just can't let it go. The U.S. has not even begun to comply with the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict with respect to Mr. Khadr. If they were, they wouldn't be trying Khadr in a system designed for adults, which has no provisions for juveniles and offers no rehabiliation options, only further incarceration.
I agree that if the Canadian government demanded Khadr's repatriation (or even just asked nicely), the U.S. would only be too glad to hand him over. It is a great disappointment that Canada's ruling party is going along with this.
I understand that Omar Khadr could be prosecuted under domestic law but why should he be? The US claims to have followed the Optional Protocol on children in armed conflict in the case of every one of its hundreds of Iraqi and Afgan detainees, except two, Khadr and your client, Jawad. (See the US government report on the DoD web site - Omar Khadr - Child Soldier Protocol.)
Why the exception? The US also approved a UNICEF program for reintegration and rehabilitation of Afghan insurgent minors who are released in custody of a local elder, tribal chief, etc.
Khadr is a Canadian and the Canadian minority Conservative government is shamefully the only western government not to extricate its citizen, but there are Canadian groups who have a plan to deal with Khadr in the appropriate way. There have been hints that the Obama Admin is not comfortable with the case and would like Canada to step up, but they can't count on this with the government we have right now.
The people responsible for setting up this system knew full well that many of people held were in fact not guilty of anything justifying such a treatment. They were held because of political reasons, to avoid embarrassment and to not "look soft" on terrorism. The rule of law is a centrepiece of any nation claiming to be a modern democracy. It is scary how easily this principle was brushed aside when someone at the top decided to do so.
Just askin'
Haven't many of our soldiers commited violations of the "laws of war", such as killing innocents and trying to cover it up, and/or mistreating detaines?
Yet I see no mention of including such as possible defedants in trials by military commissions, even though it could be argued that they are in fact far more guilty of violating the very rules they are (newly) trying to implement!
Because what I understand from your response is that if you're in uniform you can do whatever, and be immune from prosecution by our side, even in the rare case when it can be proved that you did in fact violate the "laws of war"?
And what about atrocities commited by ex-soldiers in the employ of contracting firms? Are they vulnerable to prosecution by Iraq and Afghanistan? Will that jurisdiction be respected, or will we then claim those two countries have no jurisdiction? One or the other, not both!!!
So military commisions are to prosecute ONLY enemy combatants?
Who in hell is writing the rules of engagement in the USA, Ted Bundy and Charles Manson?
Never mind the fact that this kid was 15 years old at the time, it was impossible for him to throw a grenade because he had two bullets in his back and he was buried under a pile of rubble and his confession was tortured out of him. Kangaroo Court is too kind a description of what is going on in Guantanamo Bay.
Is the intent: To establish guilt only where poof of guilt exists? Or is it: To err on the side of conviction, should no definitive evidence of guilt exist? If the former, wouldn’t the use of currently available MRI technology be prudent? If the latter, then it hardly matters what niceties are observed. Since the outcome is predetermined.
“by executive order of President Bush, the President attempted to create a new war offense called "murder by an unprivileged belligerent."
Was he deterred, by advice that this specification might encompass him?
“common criminals”
Surely those legally involved in a legally declared war, directing prescribed weapons against prescribed targets, constitute armed combatants. Deliberate deviation from the weapons and targets described above, would constitute the acts of war criminals. While those engaged in illegally declared or undeclared war, constitute common criminals.
I guess that by that definition, the French Resistance, The Norwiegan Resistance and the Polish resistance to invading german armies were all mannned by war criminals, becvause they did not wear uniforms..
That definition of "War Criminal" is enought to make a logical person throwup.
In the end, these trials will place the US military justice system in the spotlight, and bring to the scrutiny of the world the lengths to which it will go to exact revenge upon anyone it chooses.
It is hard to imagine that this twisted current system once helped to create the Nuremberg Tribunals. I worry that what Bush created, and Obama is perpetuating, will leave us despised in the world, and our troops at risk of being murdered should they fall into the hands of our enemies.
Obama is defending the use of indefinite intention and special rendition and has no intention of ending those policies.
In addition to using 'military tribunals' aka kangaroo courts the NYT reported that Obama's DOJ is going after one of the Times' reporters, James Risen. He received a subpoena requiring him to provide documents and to testify May 4 before a grand jury in Alexandria, Va., about his sources for a chapter of his book, “State of War: The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration.” The chapter largely focuses on problems with a covert C.I.A. effort to disrupt alleged Iranian nuclear weapons research. Haaretz reported that this disruption effort included the use of assassins to murder Iranian nuclear scientists.
Apparently Obama thinks that pursuing whistleblowers demanding sources for information published a few years ago is not "looking back" that expose the Bush family but investigating torture and war crimes is.
we don't. That's the point of this article and these comments! Keep up, okay?
Also, note that this ruling officially grants the right of Facism. When our country is run, not by the People....we are in dire straits.