thedrifter
07-22-08, 06:48 AM
Posted on Tue, Jul. 22, 2008
Use of interrogations limited in war-crime trial
BY CAROL ROSENBERG
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- Osama bin Laden's driver went on trial Monday with a not-guilty plea -- after his military judge excluded ''coercive'' interrogations in Afghanistan -- before a six-officer military jury. It's the first U.S. war crimes tribunal since World War II.
Salim Hamdan, 37, is accused of providing material support for terrorism and conspiracy for allegedly serving as the al Qaeda founder's driver, sometime bodyguard and weapons courier in the years leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Allies of the Americans captured Hamdan in southern Afghanistan in November 2001 and turned him over to U.S. forces.
VARIOUS AGENCIES
For the next six months, before he was transferred to this remote base, he was interrogated by a host of different agencies from the FBI to military intelligence.
In a surprise, the military judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, excluded the Afghan interrogations from trial, except Hamdan's first videotaped battlefield interrogation -- in which he discloses no links to bin Laden.
''The interests of justice are not served by admitting these statements because of the highly coercive environment and conditions under which they were made,'' Allred wrote in a 16-page ruling.
Once at Guantánamo, Hamdan admitted in an affidavit to working as the al Qaeda founder's $200-a-month driver -- but said he never hurt anyone.
WITNESS REQUIRED
The judge allowed the prosecution to present Hamdan's extensive prison camp interrogations here -- provided the government has an eyewitness authenticate their circumstances.
Left unresolved Monday night was whether the judge would accept testimony on a key May 2003 interrogation session at Guantánamo with the FBI's al Qaeda expert, Ali Soufan. Allred noted that the prosecutors released 600 pages of prison camp records to the defense on Sunday night.
Defense lawyers were scouring them to shed more light on Hamdan's detention center treatment.
Defense lawyers argued that guards subjected the Yemeni father of two with a fourth-grade education to sleeplessness and isolation before his interrogations, a form of coercion.
''While Hamdan was exposed to a variety of coercive influences over the past seven years, some of these were rationally related to good order and discipline in the camp,'' the judge wrote.
Opening arguments were scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The jury -- all U.S. military officers in smart Class A uniforms -- was drawn from a 13-member pool sent from the Pentagon this weekend.
An Army colonel who fled the burning Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, was excused, as was a military school instructor who taught the Army major who took custody of Hamdan from Afghan forces in November 2001.
In the end, the jury broke down like this: Two colonels, one a woman, and three lieutenant colonels from the Air Force, Army and Marines led by a U.S. Navy captain, the only black juror.
Hamdan, whose lawyers fought his war crimes case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, appeared somber as jury selection began.
NO TRADEMARK GRINS
He cracked none of his trademark grins, perhaps because the first historic military commission authorized by President Bush six years ago opened with a hitch:
The driver's court clothes -- a white robe, head scarf and jacket -- were at the cleaners.
So the jury pool's first glimpse of the man who admits to being bin Laden's driver but not an al Qaeda fighter appeared in a rumpled tan prison camp uniform, sporting thick black hair and a wispy beard.
The clothes came back by the first morning recess so they next saw the first terror suspect to face a war crimes trial in tidy, traditional Yemeni attire.
Ellie
Use of interrogations limited in war-crime trial
BY CAROL ROSENBERG
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- Osama bin Laden's driver went on trial Monday with a not-guilty plea -- after his military judge excluded ''coercive'' interrogations in Afghanistan -- before a six-officer military jury. It's the first U.S. war crimes tribunal since World War II.
Salim Hamdan, 37, is accused of providing material support for terrorism and conspiracy for allegedly serving as the al Qaeda founder's driver, sometime bodyguard and weapons courier in the years leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Allies of the Americans captured Hamdan in southern Afghanistan in November 2001 and turned him over to U.S. forces.
VARIOUS AGENCIES
For the next six months, before he was transferred to this remote base, he was interrogated by a host of different agencies from the FBI to military intelligence.
In a surprise, the military judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, excluded the Afghan interrogations from trial, except Hamdan's first videotaped battlefield interrogation -- in which he discloses no links to bin Laden.
''The interests of justice are not served by admitting these statements because of the highly coercive environment and conditions under which they were made,'' Allred wrote in a 16-page ruling.
Once at Guantánamo, Hamdan admitted in an affidavit to working as the al Qaeda founder's $200-a-month driver -- but said he never hurt anyone.
WITNESS REQUIRED
The judge allowed the prosecution to present Hamdan's extensive prison camp interrogations here -- provided the government has an eyewitness authenticate their circumstances.
Left unresolved Monday night was whether the judge would accept testimony on a key May 2003 interrogation session at Guantánamo with the FBI's al Qaeda expert, Ali Soufan. Allred noted that the prosecutors released 600 pages of prison camp records to the defense on Sunday night.
Defense lawyers were scouring them to shed more light on Hamdan's detention center treatment.
Defense lawyers argued that guards subjected the Yemeni father of two with a fourth-grade education to sleeplessness and isolation before his interrogations, a form of coercion.
''While Hamdan was exposed to a variety of coercive influences over the past seven years, some of these were rationally related to good order and discipline in the camp,'' the judge wrote.
Opening arguments were scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The jury -- all U.S. military officers in smart Class A uniforms -- was drawn from a 13-member pool sent from the Pentagon this weekend.
An Army colonel who fled the burning Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, was excused, as was a military school instructor who taught the Army major who took custody of Hamdan from Afghan forces in November 2001.
In the end, the jury broke down like this: Two colonels, one a woman, and three lieutenant colonels from the Air Force, Army and Marines led by a U.S. Navy captain, the only black juror.
Hamdan, whose lawyers fought his war crimes case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, appeared somber as jury selection began.
NO TRADEMARK GRINS
He cracked none of his trademark grins, perhaps because the first historic military commission authorized by President Bush six years ago opened with a hitch:
The driver's court clothes -- a white robe, head scarf and jacket -- were at the cleaners.
So the jury pool's first glimpse of the man who admits to being bin Laden's driver but not an al Qaeda fighter appeared in a rumpled tan prison camp uniform, sporting thick black hair and a wispy beard.
The clothes came back by the first morning recess so they next saw the first terror suspect to face a war crimes trial in tidy, traditional Yemeni attire.
Ellie