US soldier launches first suit against non-military fighter

The Age quotes Sergeant Layne Morris\' lawyer, Eddie Christensen, as saying the lawsuit was the first in which a US soldier had taken an action against a non-military fighter during combat. Although acts of war are exempt from civil suits, Christensen said the attack was terrorism because al-Qaeda was not a foreign state and its members were not officers or employees of a foreign state. The soldier was injured in a gun battle in which his right eye was blinded by shrapnel. Omar Khadr, then 15, allegedly waited inside a compound for US troops, armed with a pistol and a grenade. Sergeant Christopher Speer (28) died in 2002 from injuries received in the firefight. Morris has been joined in his lawsuit by Speer\'s widow and two children. In the motion, Morris\' lawyers asked US District Judge Paul Cassell to extend the time limit on serving documents that would begin the legal proceedings. Full report in The Age