The insanity of 'war crimes.'

C'mon in and grab a snack.  I'm not eating, my stomach is a bit wonky.  Feel free to help yourselves though, I've got some yogurt pretzels.

So I was listening to The Current and the subject was Omar Khadar's return to Canada.  And one of the folks they interviewed was a member of the group that assaulted the compound that Omar was in when he was 15.  This member of the US military was very upset at Mr. Obama for sliding out Omar under cover of the weekend without a statement because, by his reckoning, Omar was a US prisoner who committed a war crime against the US and should be kept in a US institution.  So the host asked a couple of questions, and got the background to how this young man was detained.  The story essentially goes like this:

The military people came across this bunker and had identified it as an enemy compound.  How they came to that conclusion was not provided.  The US military then demanded the occupants of the compound come out.  They waited 45 minutes, during which time, although this detail is hazy, women and children were let out of the compound.  Because no one came out of the compound, the US military called in air strikes and blew the every loving fuck out of the building.  They zipped so much firepower into that building that the only person found alive in the building was Omar Khadar.  And when they did find him, he tossed a grenade, killing an American soldier, and then fired the pistol he had.  When he was out of ammo he was captured.

When this soldier was asked about Omar's status as a child, the response was very strange. 'If he was a child he could have left with the women and children.'  Therefore he's not a child.  So ... wait.  I'm not sure how this logic works.  He is defined as a child soldier, he is therefore responsible to self-declare?  Because ... children are known for logical and well planned thought.  Especially those that have been indoctrinated by a family that felt the Americans were Imperialistic Oppressors who were there to commit unwarranted acts of violence, so they should defend themselves against such.

Maybe I'm being naive here.  And that's totally possible, since I've never been a soldier nor participated in the activities of war.  But ... you just blew the living fuck out of his home.  If someone called air strikes against my home, killing everyone but me, and it was done by people I was told were there to commit acts of violence, I might defend myself with anything available as well.  And how does that qualify Omar Khadar as a war criminal?  Isn't it just actions of war?  And how the hell does someone become a war criminal when they are doing exactly what the accusing nation is doing?

And there are so many other questions.  I just don't understand this.  The guy defended himself from an invading army and, despite being underage, was subjected to torture and detention.  It sounds instead as if he is being a scapegoat for any and all aggressive actions taken against the US.  Bizarre.