Advocates for the war court, whose rules don't distinguish between adults and child soldiers, say U.S military officers took his young age into consideration by not seeking to execute him, if he is convicted.

He could get life in prison, if convicted of the terror and murder charges, but the jury of officers would be allowed to consider his young age in deciding his sentence.

For his part, Obama has said he prefers traditional civilian criminal trials or courts-martial rather than the special national security war court the Bush administration set up in 2006 with approval of the GOP-led Congress.

Lawyers and children's rights advocates have sought an exception for Khadr in particular, saying the United States would be snubbing a contemporary trend of treating children of war differently.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, paid by the Pentagon to defend Khadr at trial, wants him sent home to Canada. He urged Obama to freeze the war court on Inauguration Day. ''If he does not act in the first six days of his administration,'' he said, ``he will be the first president in U.S. history to preside over the trial of a child soldier for war crimes.''

Pentagon officials say they will go forward with the trial absent an order to do otherwise.

The New York Center for Constitutional Rights, which has defended Guantánamo detainees almost since the start, likewise expressed frustration with Obama's plan for delay, counsel and consent.

It said in a statement that the new U.S. government should repatriate those among the 250 detainees whose home nations will take them, ''secure safe haven for those who cannot,'' and ``charge those who can be charged and try them in ordinary federal criminal court.''

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