This morning, Omar Khadr pled guilty before a military commission to conspiring with al Qaeda and throwing the grenade that killed an American medic in Afghanistan. The guilty plea was reportedly part of an agreement that will allow Khadr to spend less time behind bars. The details of the agreement were not immediately made available. According to Reuters, lawyers had “discussed an agreement that would let Khadr serve one more year at Guantanamo and then seven years in Canada.”
Khadr’s story is important for a lot of reasons. Perhaps most importantly, it demonstrates the degree to which the anti-Guantanamo crowd has distorted the detainees’ stories. Human rights organizations, journalists, lawyers and others have tried to turn Khadr into a martyr. This son of al Qaeda has been called a “child soldier” over and over again, despite the fact that description is wholly inapplicable.
