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Bin Laden's Driver Sentenced To 5 1/2 Years At First Guantanamo Trial
From the AP:
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - A military jury has sentenced Osama bin Laden's former driver to 5 1/2 years in prison for aiding terrorism, making him eligible for release in just six months. Salim Hamdan was acquitted of conspiracy in the first Guantanamo war crimes trial.
Late Update: Here's an interesting detail noted over at ProPublica:
Even after Hamdan's "sentence" is up, the military can continue to hold him as an enemy combatant. He can be freed when one of two things happen: 1) the government decides that he is "no longer an enemy combatant" 2) the war on terror ends.
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Comments (27)
What a damn disgrace. The republican party deserves to be wiped out forever, let's hope the process starts this year.
August 7, 2008 3:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
When they drag Cheney and Rumsfield into the Hague, I wonder how many months their chauffers will get!
August 7, 2008 4:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
If chauffeur = enabler that would include nearly the entire House and Senate.
August 7, 2008 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary and McSame but not Obama, you mean?
August 7, 2008 5:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
And that's IF they ever let him out.....
August 7, 2008 4:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's five-and-a-half, INCLUDING the five years he's already served. This is a huge victory for the military and civilian lawyers who defended Hamdan, the Pentagon wanted him to get 30 to life.
August 7, 2008 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Clearly, "the worst of the worst".
The Bush Administration's drivers must be shaking in their boots to know that they have legal exposure for driving a war criminal around.
August 7, 2008 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
I suspect they had to find him guilty of something so they could release him without losing face. I don't think anyone seriously wanted him to serve 30 years; he was picked up for possible intelligence value and obliviously his detention has outlived it's usefulness.
August 7, 2008 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
I see what you're saying, but what a sad state of affairs where that could be considered "a huge victory". I think if I'd been detained under these circumstances, I don't think I'd be celebrating the fact that the conclusion is that I'm guilty and I only have to serve another six months.
August 7, 2008 4:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, he seems to appreciate knowing that he may be able to finally go home soon:
"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," Hamdan told the panel of six U.S. military officers, hand-picked by the Pentagon for the first U.S. war crimes trial in a half century.
"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," the judge told Hamdan.
Hamdan, dressed in a charcoal sports coat and white robe, responded: "God willing."
August 7, 2008 4:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ach, I know. It just...you know it just kind of breaks my heart. That exchange there, you could see it as the culmination of a novel in which all people involved understand they are in a terrible system with illogical outcomes, yet all they can do is play their parts in it. They wish no ill will on each other, but everyone in the room knows that this man's life has been a window to Hell for no real fault of his own. And they are all powerless to truly do anything about it.
Or maybe not so much a novel. sigh.
August 7, 2008 5:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wish someone could explain to me in plain English what his acts were. What did he actually do? What a bunch of baloney. Furthermore, he would never have been convicted in a trial in out justice system.
August 7, 2008 4:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
According to the Washington Post, Hamdan was convicted of providing material support to terrorists, and I believe the indictment added "to wit, providing himself as a driver for Osama Bin Laden". Of course, Hamdan admitted up front that he was a driver for Bin Laden, so this judicial proceeding had all the drama of a Soviet-era show trial.
Obviously, the appeals of the case will take more than the 5 months remaining of the 66 month sentence. Clearly also, the Bush administration will not move Hamdan out of Guantanamo. So it will be up to the next president where Hamdan goes in January, 2009. Obama would likely at least release the guy out of Guantanamo and into freedom, and it's a fair question to McCain what would he do with Hamdan in January?
August 7, 2008 5:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're right, it's a good question to ask McCain, but it's an easy one to knock down.
And that's just off the top of my head, I'm sure a professional spin doctor could make it shinier.
August 7, 2008 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
The end of his term very conveniently falls just beyond January 20, 2009. Anyone want to bet the White House made it clear through back channels that he was to serve at least 66 months and not a month less?
August 7, 2008 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
It will be interesting to see how the Administration spins this. They have an out here -- basically, they can say, "Look, you all told us that these military commissions were a farce -- this shows that defendants can, in fact, prevail." In fact, given that it's pretty much understood that Hamdan poses no threat to American security, this verdict can arguably provide cover for the commissions to impose much more severe sentences on those who are potential threats.
August 7, 2008 4:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's curious how the supreme court opposed the MCA yet ... well...
Let's just say if it takes 7 years for the MCA (which is completely in violation of international law) to convict ONE driver well I guess by that math ...
600 at gitmo times 7 years each -- so in what 4200 years we'll be done?
NO MORE MCA - NO MORE GITMO!
August 7, 2008 4:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hear that Bin Laden's manicurist is expected to get 3 years, but there is great concern that his housekeeper is still at large.
August 7, 2008 5:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
The poor bastard, the "Marin Taliban" kid should have held out against the witch hunters
August 7, 2008 5:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that he doesn't get credit for time served, so he still has 5 1/2 years to go. All for being the driver. Like I heard someone (Thom Hartmann?) point out, if Bush were investigated by the international tribunal at the Hague, they could imprison one of Bush's limo drivers indefinitely using the same reasoning.
August 7, 2008 5:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, article says "making him eligible for release in just six months".
August 7, 2008 8:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama has got to beat McBush. That's the only way this disgraceful chapter will ever end.
As for "time served" - you're mistaking this for an actual legal proceeding. Don't do that.
August 7, 2008 5:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I want to thank the officers of the military jury who chose to do the RIGHT thing.
As a ten year veteran of the US armed forces whose confidence in this government, but never in our military, has been seriously shaken, my resolve to continue a tradition of military service in my family, has been rekindled.
I know DOD personell are not permitted to blog and as such are less than likely to visit these sites. But I hope we take the time to call or write our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers to remind them how proud we are of their service.
Thank you.
August 7, 2008 5:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Was this serious or sarcasm?
August 7, 2008 9:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Given the punitive nature of the bush regime and their desperation to show that each minor character is truly a life-threatening terrorist, under the circumstances there is a small victory for justice in the actions of the tribunal. I echo the sentiments of Got Kids in expressing gratitude for the professionalism of the military officers and lawyers involved.
Now when to we see some true character and pardon John Walker Lindh?
August 7, 2008 6:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
That poor Lindh kid. I recall at the time thinking he was taking a very bad deal; that if he waited it out, common sense would return and he'd be entitled to a fair trial. I mean, what did he do -- other than fall in love with a different ideology?
It seemed his family was afraid he'd get the death penalty. Hard to imagine now, but it's a great reminder of the extent to which people had lost their minds. Didn't the guy take a life sentence or something crazy like that?
August 7, 2008 9:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
An absolute farce.
August 9, 2008 8:01 PM | Reply | Permalink