U.S. soldier partially blinded during firefight rips Omar Khadr's release

<p>A retired American soldier who was blinded in one eye during a firefight in Afghanistan has criticized a Canadian judge's decision to allow the release of a former Guantanamo Bay inmate who was convicted in the attack.</p><p>Toronto-born Omar Khadr was convicted of war crimes, including throwing a grenade when he was 15 years old that killed U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer in Afghanistan during a 2002 firefight.</p><p>Layne Morris of Utah, who lost sight in one eye from shrapnel during the skirmish, said Khadr's release Thursday was worrisome.</p>Omar Khadr vows to prove he is 'a good person'Khadr's odds of winning U.S. appeal look good, legal expert says<p>"This is a man who has demonstrated a willingness and a capability to do great harm to Canadian society and Western interests in general," he told the Deseret News newspaper in Salt Lake City.</p><p>Last year, Morris and Speer's widow filed a $44.7 million US wrongful death and injury lawsuit against Khadr in U.S. District Court in Utah.</p><p>Khadr, son of an alleged senior al-Qaeda financier, said he categorically rejects violent jihad and wants a fresh start. He plans to finish his education and work in health care.</p><p>"I'm sorry for the pain I've caused for the families of the victims," he told reporters after his release on bail. "There's nothing I can do about the past but I can do something about the future."</p><p>Khadr spent 10 years in the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Since 2012, he had been held in Canada, serving out an eight-year sentence handed down by a U.S. military commission in 2010. He was once the youngest detainee at Guantanamo, arriving there at age 15. He is now 28.</p><p>Court of Appeal Justice Myra Bielby rejected the Canadian government's emergency request to stop Khadr's release while he appeals his U.S. war crimes conviction. A lower court judge granted him bail last month.</p><p>The U.S. State Department supports the Canadian government's decision to appeal the bail decision.</p> © The Associated Press, 2015 <br />

U.S. soldier partially blinded during firefight rips Omar Khadr's release

A retired American soldier who was blinded in one eye during a firefight in Afghanistan has criticized a Canadian judge's decision to...

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