Tribunal Convicts Bin Laden's Driver

Pentagon-Selected Jury Returns Split Verdict In First Guantanamo War Crimes Trial

(CBS/ AP)  The conviction of Osama bin Laden's driver by a U.S. military court after a 10-day trial provides an indication of what to expect as dozens more Guantanamo prisoners go to court: shifting charges, secret testimony — and quick verdicts.

Salim Hamdan held his head in his hands and wept Wednesday as the six-member military jury declared the Yemeni guilty of aiding terrorism, which could bring a maximum life sentence. But in a split decision, the jury in America's first war-crimes trial since the aftermath of World War II cleared Hamdan of two charges of conspiracy.

"It was the first military commission proceeding since the end of World War II," said CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen. "But its resolution will do little to answer the legal, political and diplomatic questions that surround it. Those answers will begin to come only now, when the conviction and sentence are appealed to the civilian courts - the federal courts that routinely handle appeals in our criminal justice system. Those judges soon will begin to unwind what has just occurred down at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to evaluate whether any or all of it was constitutional."

Deputy White House spokesman Tony Fratto applauded what he called "a fair trial" and said prosecutors will now proceed with other war crimes trials at the isolated U.S. military base in southeast Cuba. Prosecutors intend to try about 80 Guantanamo detainees for war crimes, including 19 already charged.

"Although Hamdan's trial will be seen as a landmark case in the tribunals," said CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk, "the next trial, that of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad - called the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks - will be the real bellwether, because it is a case that will raise the issue of harsh interrogations and because it is a death penalty case."

But defense lawyers said their client's rights were denied by an unfair process, hastily patched together after the Supreme Court rulings that previous tribunal systems violated U.S. and international law.

Under the military commission, Hamdan did not have all the rights normally accorded either by U.S. civilian or military courts. The judge allowed secret testimony and hearsay evidence. Hamdan was not judged by a jury of his peers and he received no Miranda warning about his rights.

Hamdan's attorneys said interrogations at the center of the government's case were tainted by coercive tactics, including sleep deprivation and solitary confinement.

All that is in contrast to the courts-martial used to prosecute American troops in Iraq and Vietnam, which accorded defendants more rights.

"This outcome was predetermined — not by the court, but by the government — well before the trial even began," said Sahr MuhammedAlly of Human Rights First, who has observed hearings in the hilltop courtroom.

The five-man, one-woman jury convicted Hamdan on five counts of supporting terrorism, accepting the prosecution argument that Hamdan aided terrorism by becoming a member of al Qaeda in Afghanistan and serving as bin Laden's armed bodyguard and driver while knowing that the al Qaeda leader was plotting attacks against the U.S.

But he was found not guilty on three other counts alleging he knew that his work would be used for terrorism and that he provided surface-to-air missiles to al Qaeda.

He also was cleared of two charges of conspiracy alleging he was part of the al Qaeda effort to attack the United States — the most serious charges, according to deputy chief defense counsel Michael Berrigan.

Berrigan noted the conspiracy charges were the only ones Hamdan originally faced when his case prompted the Supreme Court to halt the tribunals. Prosecutors added the new charges after the Bush administration rewrote the rules.

"The problem is the law was specifically written after the fact to target Mr. Hamdan," said Charles Swift, one of Hamdan's civilian lawyers.

The verdict will be appealed automatically to a special military appeals court in Washington. Hamdan can then appeal to U.S. civilian courts as well.

Ben Wizner, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney, said the appeals from Hamdan's case are unlikely to slow the pace of other Guantanamo trials.

The jury reconvened for a sentencing hearing in which psychologist Emily Keram testified that Hamdan was orphaned by the age of 10, has only a fourth-grade education and worked for bin Laden because he felt it was the only way to support his family.

She said Hamdan, who is about 37, wept when prosecutors showed video of airplanes crashing into the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

"He told me it was hard on his soul," Keram testified at the hearing, which was to continue Thursday.

Hamdan's lawyers said he is likely testify himself Thursday or provide a written statement seeking leniency.

The military judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, gave Hamdan five years of credit toward his sentence for the time he has served at Guantanamo Bay since the Pentagon decided to charge him.

The Pentagon describes the Hamdan proceedings as the first "contested" U.S. military war crimes trial since World War II. In March 2007, Australian David Hicks reached a plea agreement that sent him home to serve a nine-month prison sentence in what the military considers the first trial.

The U.S. now holds about 265 prisoners at Guantanamo. The U.S. has been struggling to persuade other countries to take in the detainees it doesn't plan to prosecute, including many already cleared for release and dozens who officials consider too dangerous to let loose, even if they don't want to put them on trial.

Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, said the split verdict proved the trial was fair.

"The fact that the jury did not find Hamdan guilty of all of the charges brought against him demonstrates that the jury weighed the evidence carefully," McCain said.

His Democratic rival, Barack Obama, also praised the military officers involved but said the process has "dangerous flaws" and that such trials belong in traditional military or civilian courts.

Hamdan was captured at a roadblock in southern Afghanistan in November 2001 and taken to Guantanamo Bay in May 2002.

The military accused him of transporting missiles for al Qaeda and helping bin Laden escape U.S. retribution following the Sept. 11 attacks by serving as his driver. Defense attorneys said he was merely a low-level bin Laden employee, a minor member of a motor pool who earned about $200 a month.

Army Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham, a former Guantanamo official who has since become critical of the legal process, mocked the choice of Hamdan for the tribunal's first trial.

"We can only trust that the next subjects ... will include cooks, tailors, and cobblers without whose support terrorist leaders would be left unfed, unclothed, and unshod, and therefore rendered incapable of planning or executing their attacks," Abraham said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

[txgrouch2006]

BILL CLINTON LIED ABOUT WMD IN IRAQ.

HILLARY CONTINUED THE LIE AND CONNECTED IT TO 9/11.

BUSH BOUGHT INTO THE SAME LIE BECAUSE IT SUITED HIS AGENDA AND HE WAS STUPID.

All lies originate with Bill Clinton.

[txgrouch2006]

"Other countries possess weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles. With Saddam, there is one big difference: He has used them. Not once, but repeatedly. Unleashing chemical weapons against Iranian troops during a decade-long war. Not only against soldiers, but against civilians, firing Scud missiles at the citizens of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Iran. And not only against a foreign enemy, but even against his own people, gassing Kurdish civilians in Northern Iraq.

%u201DThe international community had little doubt then, and I have no doubt today, that left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will use these terrible weapons again. "

Speech from the Oval Office by President William Clinton, explaining his attack on Iraq
reported by The Associated Press
Wednesday, December 16, 1998

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/clintontext121698.htm

BTW, Bill Clinton was impeached on December 19, 1998.

WHAT A COINCIDENCE!!!

[txgrouch2006]

All lies originate with Bill Clinton. The Iraq lies began in 1998 with his desparate attempt to avoid impeachment by ABRUPTLY shifting to a "get tough" policy with Iraq.

Hillary herself connects this 1998 policy break with the 9/11 attack. Her words echo the words spoken by her husband in 1998, forming an unbroken line of logic from the mind of Bill Clinton.

AND ALL OF IT TURNED OUT TO BE A LIE. BILL CLINTON LIED ABOUT WMD IN IRAQ. HILLARY CONTINUED THE LIE. BUSH BOUGHT INTO THE SAME LIE BECAUSE IT SUITED HIS AGENDA AND HE WAS STUPID.

All lies originate with Bill Clinton.

[txgrouch2006]

"Other countries possess weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles. With Saddam, there is one big difference: He has used them. Not once, but repeatedly. Unleashing chemical weapons against Iranian troops during a decade-long war. Not only against soldiers, but against civilians, firing Scud missiles at the citizens of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Iran. And not only against a foreign enemy, but even against his own people, gassing Kurdish civilians in Northern Iraq.

%u201DThe international community had little doubt then, and I have no doubt today, that left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will use these terrible weapons again. "

Speech from the Oval Office by President William Clinton, explaining his attack on Iraq
reported by The Associated Press
Wednesday, December 16, 1998

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/clintontext121698.htm

BTW, Bill Clinton was impeached on December 19, 1998.

WHAT A COINCIDENCE!!!

[dencal26]

America has gone down the sewer. Left Wing wackos defending the Body Guard/ Driver of Osama BinLaden out of Bush Hate. Insane is all I can say. Not My Fathers Dem Party anymore.

[dencal26]

Silly Libnuts trying to claim its not a War. Its a WAR . 2 Sides fighting eachother with people dying . Take your Semantics to your therapist.

[dencal26]

The man was BinLadens driver and Bodyguard. This was someone who was trusted by Al Qaida. Screw Him .

[pirmin3]

Hitler would be envious of the present American system of "justice". Dictator appointed by packed supreme court and then said dictator suspends the constitution and bill of rights all in the name of the "war on tear". The world is having a good laugh.

[stn_sage]

GREAT! Now, they can go after the French chef, followed by the chamber maid, and finish with the gardener!

Epic heights in jurisprudence are not being climbed here folks! The rest of the world is probably looking on in horrified disbelief at what passes as justice American style!

[haoli25]

Who knew that ''Driving Miss Osama'' was a criminal offense?

[ajmarine111]

The fact remains that the "military tribunals" are kangaroo courts and the accused are not "war criminals" due to the fact the US is not "at war."


Posted by tuckerndfw at 09:38 PM : Aug 06, 2008


Maybe they should have just shot all of them on the battle field and be done with it.

[rebelscout]

So now that you see the failed Iraq ignorence is Bush/Cheney stupidity you want to blame the Dem''s? You are dumber than they are moron!!!!

[tapsettle]

I think txgrouch2006 is trying to compete with the level of patheticness this tribunal conviction has revealed. Nice try txgrouch2006, but it would be impossible to be even more pathetic .... though you are on a similar pathetic wavelength.

[rebelscout]

ALL LIE''S BEGIN WITH BILL CLINTON? Man, when are you repug''s going to see the truth?

[txgrouch2006]

All lies originate with Bill Clinton. The Iraq lies began in 1998 with his desparate attempt to avoid impeachment by ABRUPTLY shifting to a "get tough" policy with Iraq.

Hillary herself connects this 1998 policy break with the 9/11 attack. Her words echo the words spoken by her husband in 1998, forming an unbroken line of logic from the mind of Bill Clinton.

AND ALL OF IT TURNED OUT TO BE A LIE. BILL CLINTON LIED ABOUT WMD IN IRAQ. HILLARY CONTINUED THE LIE. BUSH BOUGHT INTO THE SAME LIE BECAUSE IT SUITED HIS AGENDA AND HE WAS STUPID.

All lies originate with Bill Clinton.

[rebelscout]

Keep living in that fantasy world tx !!!!

[rebelscout]

Kangaroo court. Bush needed something to look good. Too late Dumbw!!!

[txgrouch2006]

Here''''s how it ALL BEGAN:

"Other countries possess weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles. With Saddam, there is one big difference: He has used them. Not once, but repeatedly. Unleashing chemical weapons against Iranian troops during a decade-long war. Not only against soldiers, but against civilians, firing Scud missiles at the citizens of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Iran. And not only against a foreign enemy, but even against his own people, gassing Kurdish civilians in Northern Iraq.

%u201DThe international community had little doubt then, and I have no doubt today, that left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will use these terrible weapons again. "

Speech from the Oval Office by President William Clinton, explaining his attack on Iraq
reported by The Associated Press
Wednesday, December 16, 1998

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv
/politics/special/clinton/stories/clinto
ntext121698.htm

BTW, Bill Clinton was impeached on December 19, 1998.

[txgrouch2006]

Iraq had nothing to do with the Sep 11 attacks, and Bill Clinton did not invade Iraq (on a pack of lies or otherwise).
Posted by tapsettle at 12:04 AM : Aug 07, 2008
----------------------------------

%u201CIn 1998, the United States also changed its underlying policy toward Iraq from containment to regime change and began to examine options to effect such a change, including support for Iraqi opposition leaders within the country and abroad.

"..I come to this decision from the perspective of a Senator from New York who has seen all too closely the consequences of last year''s terrible attacks on our nation. In balancing the risks of action versus inaction, I think New Yorkers who have gone through the fires of hell may be more attuned to the risk of not acting. I know that I am. %u201C

Hillary Clinton%u2019s Senate floor speech explaining her vote FOR war in Iraq
October 10, 2002

http://clinton.senate.gov/speeches/iraq_101002.html

[shaheed92]

A good muslim is a convicted muslim.

Posted by jeff92706 at 11:54 PM : Aug 06, 2008
___________________

A good Christian is not necessarily a nut job, but you are.