http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=8c8cc203-ecb4-4cf0-9ef 6-2c3e0c31eaa4 <http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=8c8cc203-ecb4-4cf0-9e f6-2c3e0c31eaa4&k=47549> &k=47549
Omar Khadr had ear of al-Qaeda Adrian Humphreys; with files from Allison Hanes, National Post Published: Friday, November 03, 2006 Omar Khadr, the only Canadian imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, was working as a translator in Afghanistan for a man described as a senior al-Qaeda leader, his eldest brother said -- a revelation that may solve the mystery of why the U.S. government has maintained such an unusual interest in the young Toronto-born man. At the time Omar was captured by American forces in Afghanistan in 2002, he was a translator for Abu Laith al-Libi, according to statements made to the RCMP by Abdullah Khadr. Libi is best known for declaring that Osama bin Laden remained "in good health" during the invasion of Afghanistan by coalition forces after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and for rallying Taliban fighters to renew their attacks on Western targets. He has since become a spokesman in Afghanistan for al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, according to foreign news accounts. The fact that Libi remains at large and continues to exhort violence on behalf of al-Qaeda -- including a call earlier this year for a continued holy war to reinstate the Taliban regime -- likely adds urgency to the interest U.S. authorities have in Omar. Omar has been held as an "enemy combatant" in Guantanamo Bay, a U.S. Navy base at the southeastern edge of Cuba, since his capture when he was just 15. He is accused of murder, attempted murder, conspiring with al-Qaeda and aiding the enemy after a U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded, allegedly from a grenade thrown by Omar, during a battle in a remote Afghan village. Omar is the only Guantanamo prisoner facing life in prison for murder, and Colonel Morris Davis, the chief U.S. military prosecutor, has publicly called him a "terrorist." Col. Davis also said appeals for sympathy because of Omar's age were "nauseating." Revelations about Omar's duties in Afghanistan and his connection to Libi were told to RCMP anti-terrorism officers by his eldest brother, Abdullah Khadr, in two interviews, one while he was imprisoned in Pakistan during a terrorism probe and another after he was allowed to return to Canada. He has since been arrested on U.S. terrorism charges. Omar was sent by his father to translate for Libi in Pakistan, according to a transcript of Abdullah's interviews that were filed this week in an Ontario court by Canada's Department of Justice. "He asked him, that we need someone to translate," Abdullah said of a request from Libi to the Khadr patriarch, Ahmed Said Khadr, a reputed al-Qaeda financier who has since died in a battle with Pakistani forces. "And my father said, 'Omar is translating,' " Abdullah said. The boy then left his father and went to translate for Libi between Arabic and the languages of other fighters at Miram Shah, which is in Pakistan but near its border with Afghanistan. Despite Libi being a military commander, Omar's duties were to be more social than martial, Abdullah said. "In Miram Shah... you translate between people sitting in a house and the house owner," Abdullah said. "Like, he sits in a house and, say they want, say, food, or they want some special thing and people, Arabs mostly, don't know the language." But Libi shifted his base from the safer Pakistani town to the front lines in Afghanistan, where coalition forces were in pitched battles with Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters. He took young Omar with him without asking, or even informing, the Khadr family, Abdullah said. When coalition forces swept through Afghanistan, they captured Omar. The family did not know of Omar's fate at the time because Libi did not tell them, Abdullah said. A feeling that Omar was in distress came in an unusual way, he said. "My mom saw, I think she saw a dream or something," Abdullah said. "And she waked up and told my father, 'I want Omar here now.' " When Omar's father sent word to Libi to send his boy home, however, he received no response. "[Libi] knew that he was captured. He didn't say anything. He didn't even come to my father," Abdullah said. The Khadrs learned of Omar's capture when an uncle in Canada e-mailed them. "He said your brother Omar is in Cuba," Abdullah said. They checked Canadian media sites on the Internet for confirmation. The Khadrs were angry with Libi for putting Omar in danger. It caused a rift between them. Omar's father argued with Libi about it: "I sent him to translate to you ... in Miram Shah and that's it," Abdullah said of his father's confrontation with Libi. "Who gave you permission to send him inside Afghanistan?" When Abdullah later went to see Libi, after the Khadr father's death, Abdullah was asked to leave Libi's house. Abdullah told the RCMP about Omar during an interview in Pakistan while he was imprisoned there without being charged, and again at Toronto's Pearson airport in December after he returned to Canada. Both of the Khadr sons are Canadian and both cases have brought allegations of torture. Abdullah, who is fighting extradition to the United States, is seeking a stay of proceedings in Canada because of alleged torture at the hands of his jailers in Pakistan. Omar was abused while in U.S. custody, according to allegations in a report by the Center for Constitutional Rights, a New York-based human rights group. Dennis Edney, an Edmonton-based lawyer for the Khadr family, said information given by Abdullah has been tainted by torture. Some U.S. military officials have referred to Libi as one of three top al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan, but Abdullah says he was not al-Qaeda when he knew him. He described him as a military commander who shared al-Qaeda's goal of forcing the Americans out of Afghanistan. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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