Omar Khadr Innocent

In the middle of war torn middle and west Africa lies a need for soldiers on both sides of their civil war. Many get confused on which side is good and which side is in the wrong, but the reality of it is unclear. The people who get caught in the middle of this mess: children, mostly innocent. Jeffrey Gentleman says in his article Armed & Underage that nearly ¨80 percent of rebel troops and 20 percent of government troops are children.¨ These children are forced to fight in a war that they weren't even alive for the start of. Some kids as young as nine are taken from soccer fields only to have a gun in their hands a few days later. However some of these children manage to escape the war through organizations, like the International Rescue
These children would be forced into a high security prison with other dangerous prisoners who are awaiting trial. Omar Khadr is one of the few prisoners at Guantanamo bay who have received a trial for his alleged crimes. He has wait eight years for a trial only to have evidence withheld from him and to have been lied to by the interrogation officers. Some argue that Khadr is not all that innocent stating that his father is an Al-Qaeda leader and that he bragged about killing a U.S. soldier. While his father was an Al-Qaeda leader, the interrogators that questioned him were corrupt. Khadr also experienced many hardships. As stated in the article The Child Soldier on Trial at Guantanamo by Andrea Prasow, “Khadr was strung up like a big over the air vent to his cell in Bergham...” He may not have been completely innocent but due to the conditions of the situation he is not at fault and was probably deluded into doing those actions. Granting these children amnesty will give them a sense that they have a future. With the legal forgiveness they could potentially receive, these children could become citizens of the U.S. and not have to live in constant fear of whether they will live to see their families the next