Charges dismissed in two Guantanamo cases

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, June 5 (UPI) -- The Bush administration said Tuesday it disagrees with the dismissal of war crime charges against a Canadian and a Yemeni held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Army Col. Peter Brownback dismissed the case Monday against Omar Khadr, 20, a detainee who allegedly killed a U.S. serviceman during fighting in Afghanistan in 2002, The Washington Post reported.

Khadr had been labeled an "enemy combatant" and was scheduled to be arraigned before a military commission at Guantanamo Bay.

Brownback said the Military Commissions Act of 2006 limited the crimes to those named as "unlawful enemy combatants." Charges were dropped against Yemeni national Salim Ahmed Hamdan on the same ground, the Post reported.

The White House criticized the rulings, which the Post said could delay other hearings at the Cuba facility.

"We don't agree with the ruling on the military commissions," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said from Prague where President George Bush had stopped en route to the G8 a meeting in Germany. "In no way does this decision affect the appropriateness of the military commission system."