As you may have heard on Twitter, Omar Khadr has plead guilty to all charges against him.
Omar Khadr, the only Canadian, only child soldier and only Guantanamo Bay detainee charged with battlefield homicide in the killing a U.S. soldier, pleaded guilty to all terrorism and murder charges on Monday.
“Yes” said Mr. Khadr, when Army Col Patrick Parrish, the military judge asked him if he understood what he was doing.
[snip]
“You should only do this if you truly believe it is in your best interests,” Col. Parrish told Mr. Khadr.
“ Yes,” he replied again, his voice clear and direct in the hushed courtroom.
As part of his plea, apparently, Khadr will make a public confession to the terrorism and murder charges against him.
We have now, officially, made self defense terrorism.
Update: Carol Rosenberg describes the deal: one more year in Gitmo and then 7 more in Canada.
His 9 a.m. plea spared him a risk of life in prison, had he been convicted at trial to charges ranging from murder to conspiracy.
Instead, under a deal sealed through an exchange of diplomatic notes on Saturday, according to a government official, the United States will support a plan to transfer him to Canada at age 25 to serve the last seven years of an eight-year sentence.
The government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has not pledged to receive Khadr even if Washington invokes the prisoner transfer treaty between the United States and Canada.