Quote:
Originally Posted by Wormius
Is this lawsuit happening because these guys were medics or is there something else in play here? I assume that medics have been killed in other wars and there were no lawsuits filed?
|
As far as I understand it, the Delta Force soldier who was killed was not there in a medic capacity (although he was trained as a medic). It was a reconnaissance mission, not a medical evacuation. To me, he would have been indistinguishable from the other soldiers. The area had also just been heavily bombed and strafed by gunfire by American helicopters, killing several members of Khadr's militant unit.
EDIT: I suspect that argument in the claim is that Khadr was an "unlawful combatant" pursuant to the War Commissions Act (US legislation) because he was not a member of a state military organization. Therefore his killing of a US soldier was unlawful.
I think that there are a lot of problems with that argument. For instance, it seems very dangerous to permit states to unilaterally determinee who is an "unlawful combatant" (invariably the guys on the other side) if it is inconsistent with international law. Curiously, many of the Syrian rebels currently supported by the US military would presumably be "unlawful combatants" under the US legislation.
I think there are a lot of reasons why Canadian courts should be very cautious about allowing enforcement in Canada.