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August 08, 2008
Gitmo Jury Gives Bin Laden Driver 5 1/2 Years
Military jury gives bin Laden driver just 5 1/2 years
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba
A U.S. military jury sentenced Osama bin Laden's driver Thursday to just 5 1/2 years in prison, a surprise rebuke to Pentagon prosecutors who portrayed him as a member of the al-Qaida leader's inner circle worthy of a life sentence.
Salim Hamdan, with credit for time served, will be eligible for release in less than five months, though U.S. authorities still insist they could hold him indefinitely without charge at Guantanamo.
The judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, called Hamdan a "small player," and the jury apparently agreed, rejecting the recommendation of 30 years by prosecutors who said even a life sentence would be fitting in order to send an example to would-be terrorists.
"I hope the day comes that you return to your wife and daughters and your country, and you're able to be a provider, a father and a husband in the best sense of all those terms," Allred told Hamdan at the close of the hearing.
The prisoner, dressed in a charcoal sports coat and white robe, responded: "God willing."
It was an anticlimactic finish to a case that had taken on a special prominence as the first Guantanamo war crimes trial.
The Pentagon pushed forward with Hamdan's prosecution despite repeated legal challenges that went to the Supreme Court in a 2006 case that struck down the previous rules for the tribunals, prompting Congress and President Bush to craft new ones.
The split verdict on the charges and the relatively lenient sentence appeared to strip away the urgency of the government's plans to prosecute dozens of Guantanamo prisoners under special rules widely criticized as unfair.
The jury's sentence now goes for mandatory review to a Pentagon official who can shorten it but not extend it. It remains unclear what will happen to Hamdan once his sentence is served, since the U.S. military has said it won't release anyone who still represents a threat.
The decision was a "slap in the face" to the Bush administration and its detention policies, said David Remes, a Washington lawyer who represents 15 Yemeni prisoners at Guantanamo.
"They chose to make this a test case. But they never imagined that it would result in such a stunning rebuff," he said.
The chief defense counsel for the Guantanamo tribunals, Army Col. Steve David, said the government failed in its strategy to link Hamdan to the Sept. 11 attacks.
"The government attempted to inflame the emotions of the panel," he said. "It didn't work."
"Asking for 30 years to life, not only was ill-advised and wholly inappropriate, but was also soundly rejected by the panel," David said.
Allred said Hamdan, who is from Yemen, would likely be eligible for release through the same administrative review process as other Guantanamo prisoners.
Defense lawyers said Hamdan will have finished his sentence in four months and 22 days.
"It was all for show if Mr. Hamdan does not go home in December," said civilian defense attorney Charles Swift, who hugged Hamdan after the jurors left the courtroom.
Hamdan thanked the jurors for the sentence and repeated his apology for having served bin Laden.
"I would like to apologize one more time to all the members and I would like to thank you for what you have done for me," he told the five-man, one-woman jury, all military officers picked by the Pentagon for the first U.S. war crimes trial in a half-century.
While being convicted of supporting terrorism, Hamdan was acquitted of providing missiles to al-Qaida and knowing his work would be used for terrorism. He also was cleared of being part of al-Qaida's conspiracy to attack the United States — the most serious charges he faced.
Hamdan admitted he drove bin Laden around Afghanistan at the time of the 2001 attacks, but said he took the job without knowing the al-Qaida leader was a terrorist.
It came as "a big shock," he said, when he learned bin Laden was responsible for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, where Hamdan is from.
Still, he kept the job, Hamdan said — he needed the money, and couldn't go home.
"It's true there are work opportunities in Yemen, but not at the level I needed after I got married and not to the level of ambitions that I had in my future," said Hamdan, who has a fourth-grade education.
Reading a prepared statement in Arabic, he said he had a "relationship of respect" with bin Laden, as would any other driver in the al-Qaida motor pool. Hamdan has said he drove mainly low-profile pickup trucks with tinted windows because his boss shunned the Toyota Land Cruisers favored by Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.
At the time of his capture at a roadblock in Afghanistan in November 2001, Hamdan had two shoulder-launched missiles, but he said the car was borrowed and the rockets were not his. The jury found him innocent of carrying the missiles as part of a conspiracy to kill U.S. soldiers.
Hamdan expressed regret over the "innocent people" who died in the attacks in the United States, according to a Pentagon transcript. His apology couldn't be heard by reporters because the sound was turned off during part of the proceedings to protect classified information.
The guilty verdict will be appealed automatically to a special military court in Washington. Hamdan also can appeal to U.S. civilian courts, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court. Defense lawyers say Hamdan's rights were denied by an unfair process, hastily patched together after the high court ruled that previous tribunal systems violated U.S. and international law.
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Wild Thing's comment...........
So I see the Gitmo close-out sale is on.
This sends a very bad message! This guy is full of it. He said it came as a shock when he realized what bin Laden was and yet he continued to be his driver even though as he states he could have gotten work elsewhere.
Whatever happened to President Bush’s famous “If you support a terrorist, you are a terrorist.” Did these lawyers not hear that speech?
In the mean time, our Border guards,Ramos and Compean, each got over ten years...unbelievable!
This raghead was so trusted by the enemy that he drove their top guy around.
This demonstrates why you can’t treat terrorism as a law enforcement issue, as Clinton did, as Obama and the Democrats want to do.
It also demonstrates why we can’t afford to let Obama nominate the next SCOTUS judges. Don’t forget, it’s our SCOTUS was the one who gave the terrorists all kinds of rights, they should not be entitled to have.
It is not an exaggeration to say that if the Dems take control of the US — and if Obama wins, they will control the White House, Congress, AND shortly the Judicial Branch also — their policies will cost innocent lives, our innocent lives.
Posted by Wild Thing at August 8, 2008 03:55 AM
Comments
At least, they'll still hold him as an "enemy combatant" after these next 6 months, but still, that judge must be extremely liberal. We have found books telling these guys how to play on our sympathies and win.
He knew exactly who he was driving around!
Posted by: Lynn at August 8, 2008 04:22 AM
5 years prison for waging war against the United States.
10 years prison for protecting the United States.
Bush wonders why Conservatives have turned their backs on him and the Republicans.
Posted by: BobF at August 8, 2008 10:14 AM
Time off for time served, the ACLU is rolling on the floor at this decision, we might as well run Lynne Stewart for president.
Posted by: Jack at August 8, 2008 10:31 AM
This shows that a lot of America does not really think we are at war. 9-11 was just a shocking tv show. Paris Hilton gets more tv coverage than the war.
Bad leadership at the top. Instead of putting America on war footing, Bush has mostly talked around the danger to us. We treat terrorists now as traffic violators. And illegal aliens as cheap labor. But, woe be to a Border Patrolman or deputy sheriff who shoots at a drug runner.
Bye, bye America. I knew ye when you were great.
Posted by: TomR at August 8, 2008 01:39 PM
Lynn, yes, gosh we sure have a lot of liberal judges and that is one job that really needs a conservative to be an honest judge.
Posted by: Wild Thing at August 8, 2008 06:00 PM
BobF, exactly this is a good example of why conservatives have been so upset.
Posted by: Wild Thing at August 8, 2008 06:01 PM
Jack, yes, that horrible Lynne Stewart would probably get a ton of votes too from all the enemy within.
Posted by: Wild Thing at August 8, 2008 06:03 PM
Tom, I think so otoo. I just don't understand how people don't get it. But that has to be what it is Tom, too many people do not realize we really are at war.
Posted by: Wild Thing at August 8, 2008 06:06 PM
