Days 5 and 6, Khadr trial

Closing arguments were put forward to the jury, and we now await the verdict. On hold until 12:30 tomorrow, Oct. 31.

Khadr day 4 afternoon-Khadr apologizes

What an emotional-filled day in court. Omar Khadr took the stand for the first time, and apologized to widow Tabitha Speer.
Prior to that, a Canadian christian college professer spoke about her communication and opinions with and of Omar Khadr.

Day 4 Khadr trial

The widow of soldier mortally wounded during battle reads a letter her children wrote to Omar Khadr, who pled guilty charges of manslaughter. Emotions ran high. Earlier testimony via video conferencing from Afghanistan by a soldier testified he believed Omar can be 'rehabilitated'.

Day 3 Khadr

Today's sketches.. 6 in total.

Day 2 Khadr trial

Day two, Omar Khadr trial in Guantanamo Bay. We saw )and heard) what an exploding russian grenade does to a truck, landmine elements, and a few witnesses. Off to court in a few minutes, so closing for now.

Khadr pleads guilty- Oct 25, 2010

This morning Omar Khadr pled guilty to charges that included mortally wounding a U.S. soldier during combat over eight years ago. Here we see him pleading guilty under oath. Trial will continue with military jury and witnesses present tomorrow.
Here is a more detailed outline in a statement released by military spokesperson Maj. Tanya Bradsher:
"The Department of Defense announced that Omar Khadr pled guilty today in a
military commission. In accordance with a pre-trial agreement, Mr. Khadr
admitted, in open court, to committing murder in violation of the law of
war, attempted murder in violation of the law of war, providing material
support to terrorism, conspiracy, and spying. His sentence will be
determined at a hearing that begins Tuesday."

Sketching on the fly; camp tour in gitmo

We did a 'camp tour' yesterday. I brought my sketchpad and sketched while we were moving through. It's a good challenge, and practice for me. It was one of the quicker tours, moving through at a pretty good clip, maybe 10 minutes in each area at most. We toured camps 5 and 6, and the hospital. My sketches were OPSEC'ed- approved by military- before posting.

A new Martin Luther King, Jr. poster

I had the honor of doing another MLK poster; this time I used Wordle to break down Dr. King's 'I Have a Dream' speech into
a word cloud, to me a graphically beautiful background that has meaning as well.

World War Two veteran Pete Cavallo, servicing the 28th/ 39th Division

I have had the good fortune of crossing paths with a friend's father, former World War Two vet Sgt. Pete Cavallo.

Pete had a suitcase with a lot of his documents which I've posted here:

-Photo of the troop
-Sailing orders
-Signatures of some of troop (Elmer E. Walk, Robert K. Southerland 'Good luck from the Rebals' , Robert E. Shull, Joseph E. -Lee, Greg Cottonhill, Turibio LaBelle, Mario Mazzella, Vincent C. Lora, Charles Martin, Earl T. Bettner)

They served from 1950-1952 helping the 28th and 39th Divisions, in Germany Army of Occupation. Initially trained defensively, they used generators to burn oil called 'fog oil' to create smoke camoflauge with the Chemical Corps. The Korean War started the same week they were sent.
If anyone has an affiliation or history with this troop, send me a message and I'll gladly connect you.