usmc4669
02-25-04, 10:26 AM
Going after al-Qaida
Two suspected allies of Osama bin Laden will face U.S. military tribunals on charges of aiding his network's terror plots on Americans
The two men charged by the U.S. military with conspiring to commit war crimes as members of the al-Qaida terrorist network are not accused of directly attacking Americans.
One is accused of being a propagandist for Osama bin Laden the other his paymaster and protector.
Both will be ordered to stand trial before the first U.S. military tribunal since World War II. No trial dates have been set.
In announcing the charges Tuesday, the Pentagon ruled out seeking the death penalty but did not say why.
Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi, of Sudan, is alleged to have been an al-Qaida accountant and bin Laden bodyguard, and Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul, of Yemen, was labeled a propagandist for bin Laden, according to an official list of charges released by the Pentagon.
The men are alleged to have trained at al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan, but the Pentagon's list of charges makes no mention of either man carrying out or planning any terrorist attack.
"These are not trigger men," said Eugene Fidell of the National Institute of Military Justice. He is an attorney for James Yee, the Army chaplain accused of mishandling classified information from the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where more than 600 terror suspects are held.
Two suspected allies of Osama bin Laden will face U.S. military tribunals on charges of aiding his network's terror plots on Americans
The two men charged by the U.S. military with conspiring to commit war crimes as members of the al-Qaida terrorist network are not accused of directly attacking Americans.
One is accused of being a propagandist for Osama bin Laden the other his paymaster and protector.
Both will be ordered to stand trial before the first U.S. military tribunal since World War II. No trial dates have been set.
In announcing the charges Tuesday, the Pentagon ruled out seeking the death penalty but did not say why.
Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi, of Sudan, is alleged to have been an al-Qaida accountant and bin Laden bodyguard, and Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul, of Yemen, was labeled a propagandist for bin Laden, according to an official list of charges released by the Pentagon.
The men are alleged to have trained at al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan, but the Pentagon's list of charges makes no mention of either man carrying out or planning any terrorist attack.
"These are not trigger men," said Eugene Fidell of the National Institute of Military Justice. He is an attorney for James Yee, the Army chaplain accused of mishandling classified information from the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where more than 600 terror suspects are held.