Gitmo case may test U.S. on secrecy over plea deals

[unhappycamper]

Gitmo case may test U.S. on secrecy over plea deals
by Carol Rosenberg - Oct. 25, 2010 12:00 AM
McClatchy Newspapers

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - The Obama administration's quest to show that military commissions can be as transparent and fair as other U.S. courts may face a critical test this week if Guantanamo's youngest captive reaches a secret plea agreement.

The last time such a deal was made, this summer with Ibrahim al Qosi, the military judge sealed it, revealing only the punishment reached by a military panel - 14 years imprisonment. The Pentagon would not confirm an Arab news report that it secretly agreed to send al Qosi, a member of al-Qaida, home to Sudan after two years.

The legality of that secrecy now is being questioned by experts in military justice. And similar questions could be raised in the case of Omar Khadr, 24, whose terrorism trial resumes today. Khadr, who was born in Toronto, was negotiating Sunday to avert a possible life sentence by pleading guilty to war crimes.

"There's not much choice Omar Khadr has," his family lawyer, Dennis Edney, said Sunday. "He either pleads guilty to avoid trial or he goes to trial. And the trial is an unfair process."

Such a deal would end one of Guantanamo's most controversial and best known cases: Khadr was 15 when he was captured near dead in a U.S. raid that mortally wounded an American soldier. Critics say Khadr deserved "child soldier" protections.