William C . Kuebler William " Bill " C . Kuebler is an American lawyer and a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy Judge Advocate General ' s Corps , assigned to the U . S . Navy Office of the Judge Advocate General , International and Operational Law Division . Kuebler was previously assigned to the Office of Military Commissions . Prior to the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Hamdan v . Rumsfeld , to overturn the then current version of the Guantanamo military commission s on constitutional grounds Kuebler was detailed to defend Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi . Al Sharbi had insisted on representing himself and Kuebler refused superior orders to act as his lawyer . On June 4 , 2007 Kuebler was the detailed counsel for Canadian youth Omar Khadr , Kuebler declined to join in the discussion as to whether charges against Khadr should be dropped , on jurisdictional grounds , because he had not had a chance to meet with Khadr , and didn ' t feel comfortable representing him without his consent . Peter Brownback , the officer presiding over Khadr ' s commission , did dismiss all charges , because the Military Commissions Act only authorized the commissions to act against " unlawful enemy combatant s " , and Khadr ' s Combatant Status Review Tribunal , like those of all the other Guantanamo captive s , had only confirmed that he met the Bush Presidency ' s definition of an " enemy combatant " . On 11 August 2007 , Kuebler spoke to the Council of the Canadian Bar Association at its annual meeting being held in Calgary , Alberta , urging the Bar Association to use its position to pressure publicly the Canadian government to repatriate Khadr . By the next day , the President of the Canadian Bar Association announced that , given the overwhelmingly positive reception that Council had given to Kuebler ' s speech , the Association was writing to the Canadian Prime Minister to urge immediate action . The announcement received prominent coverage in the Canadian print and television media . Canadian attorney Dennis Edney was barred from appearing at the October arraignment after an early dispute over comments Kuebler had made to the Canadian press critical of Khadr ' s father . Kuebler continues , however , to work closely with Edney and Nathan Whitling in legal proceedings in both Canada and the United States . All three appeared at a hearing in February 2008 , along with U . S . assistant counsel Rebecca Snyder , where Kuebler moved to dismiss Khadr ' s case before the military commission because Congress did not intend for child soldiers to be prosecuted before military commission . Kuebler argued to the military judge that a child soldier , such as Khadr , was a " victim of Al Qaeda , not a member . " In an interview with the Wall Street Journal , U . S . Senator Lindsey Graham , author of the Military Commissions Act seemed to agree . When asked about Khadr ' s case , Graham said , " I ' m not comfortable on an issue like this with minors . " In February 2009 , Kuebler was chosen as the recipient of the Reg Robson Civil Liberties Award for protecting civil liberties and human rights . The award is given out annually by the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association , the oldest and most active civil liberties organization in Canada whose mandate is similar to the American Civil Liberties Union . Kuebler is the first non - Canadian to receive the award . On Thursday , April 2 , 2009 , Kuebler addressed the Lord Reading Law Society in Montreal and mentioned that " up till now " he had not faced serious pressures from within the military concerning his work . On April 4 , 2009 , the Canwest News Service ( Canada ) carried a report that Kuebler " has been fired from the ( Khadr ) case after accusing his boss of a conflict of interest " . Col . Peter Masciola is mentioned as giving Kuebler " his marching orders . " Masciola promoted Commander Walter Ruiz to replace Keubler . On April 7 , 2009 the Presiding Officer of Khadr ' s case , overruled Masciola , asserting that only the Presiding Officer , or the suspect , had the authority to fire attorneys . Steven Edwards , writing in the " Ottawa Citizen " , reported that Kuebler had , coincidentally , been called into Masciola ' s office when Masciola received the phone call that informed him that Colonel Patrick Parrish had overruled him . Citing an unnamed source the " Citizen " reported that Masciola was " not at all pleased " to learn Parrish wanted to overrule him . Masciola did not accept Parrish ' s ruling , and continued to decline to allow Keubler to meet with Khadr , to access the case file . According to the unnamed source : In late May Parrish scheduled a hearing for June 1 , 2009 , to consider whether Keubler should remain as Khadr ' s counsel . In August 2009 , Kuebler detached from the Office of Military Commissions to attend graduate school at the George Washington University Law School . In October 2009 , Khadr released Kuebler as his counsel .