Jim Taylor (Afghan war)

Jim Taylor is an American citizen and employee of the United States Government.cite news
url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080911.GITMO11/TPStory/National
title=New witness comes to fore with account of gun battle: Previously undisclosed U.S. agent could shed light on incident leading to charges
publisher=Globe and Mail
author=Paul Koring
date=2008-09-11
accessdate=2008-09-15
quote= ] cite news
url=http://www.thestar.com/SpecialSections/OmarKhadr/article/497169
title=Doubts raised about Khadr's role in firefight: Detainee's lawyers say U.S. is denying them access to witnesses who could assist Canadian's defence
publisher=Toronto Star
author=Michelle Shephard
date=2008-09-11
accessdate=2008-09-15
quote= [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thestar.com%2FSpecialSections%2FOmarKhadr%2Farticle%2F497169&date=2008-09-15 mirror] ] cite news
url=http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=a5ade687-2ce5-4a6b-b921-ad8dbec88d5e
title=Khadr team wins access to firefight witness: American's report said Canadian teen didn't throw grenade
publisher=Ottawa Citizen
author=Steven Edwards
date=2008-09-11
accessdate=2008-09-15
quote= [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.canada.com%2Fottawacitizen%2Fnews%2Fstory.html%3Fid%3Da5ade687-2ce5-4a6b-b921-ad8dbec88d5e&date=2008-09-15 mirror] ] He is notable for his role in the July 27 2002 Afghan engagement where Christopher Speer was mortally wounded.It is reported that Taylor's account of the engagement will contradict military acocunts that Omar Khadr was the only survivor of the engagement, and that he may have been too badly injured to have wounded Speer.

Military authorities withheld the existence of Taylor from Khadr's defense counsel.cite news
url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1109/p25s05-duts.html
title=New twist in Guantánamo hearing draws fire: US military prosecutors hid a surprise witness until this week, complains a defense lawyer for detainee Omar Khadr
publisher=Christian Science Monitor
author=Arthur Bright
date=November 9, 2007
accessdate=2007-11-10] cite news
url=http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=5aa9cc26-86d5-49f2-bbed-5bccdcd2b6e7&k=98676&p=2
title=Khadr's lawyers claim proof he's not 'enemy': Mystery witness was at firefight
publisher=National Post
author=Sheldon Alberts
date=Friday, November 9, 2007
accessdate=2007-11-10] cite news
url=http://www.thestar.com/News/article/275026
title=New Khadr witness discovered: Defence says prosecution never told of man who might help acquit Canadian of terror charges
publisher=Toronto Star
author=Michelle Shephard
date=November 9, 2007
accessdate=2007-11-10] cite news
url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071109.GITMO09/TPStory/TPInternational/America/
title=Secret Khadr witness disclosed: Doubt cast on whether teen was 'unlawful' combatant, defence says
publisher=Globe and Mail
author=Paul Koring
date=November 9, 2007
accessdate=2007-11-10] cite news
url=http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/National/2007/11/09/4642102-sun.html
title=Key witness cited in Khadr case: Omar Khadr, a Canadian, has been held at the Cuban prison as a suspected terrorist since age 15
publisher=London Free Press
author=Beth Gorman
date=November 9, 2007
accessdate=2007-11-10] cite news
url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iuZWtyV2t6N6AYyrw6fDnm3R36dgD8SQ1D502
title=Judge Postpones Canadian's Gitmo Hearing
publisher=Associated Press
author=Michael Melia
date=November 9, 2007
accessdate=2007-11-10] cite news
url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-khadr9nov09,1,6141237.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=2&cset=true
title=Terror case could turn on eyewitness: Defense lawyers say they just became aware of a potentially helpful onlooker in a Canadian suspect's alleged attack on U.S. troops
publisher=Los Angeles Times
author=Carol J. Williams
date=November 9, 2007
accessdate=2007-11-10] When Taylor existence was first released to public, on November 9 [2007] , two days after the prosecution informed the defense, Jennifer Daskal, the senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch asserted::

Steven Edwards's, writing in the "Ottawa Citizen", on September 11, 2008, noted that Guantanamo military commissions had not allowed the names of American GIs, or CIA officers to be made public.
Paul Koring, writing in the "Globe and Mail", reported that:"Mr. Taylor's role remains shrouded in deliberate and apparently classified mystery."

Koring speculated that Taylor: "...may have been a civilian translator, a drug-enforcement officer, an armed Central Intelligence agent or working for the State Department or any one of myriad branches of the U.S. government."

References