Salim Hamdan

U.S. let Osama bin Laden's top bodyguard go

Guantanamo testimony: U.S. let bin Laden's top bodyguard go
By Carol Rosenberg | The Miami Herald

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — Soon after Osama bin Laden's driver got here in 2002, he told interrogators the identity of the al Qaeda chief's most senior bodyguard — then a fellow prison camp detainee.

But, inexplicably, the U.S. let the bodyguard go.

This startling information was revealed in the fourth day of the war crimes trial of Salim Hamdan, 37, facing conspiracy and material support for terror charges as an alleged member of bin Laden's inner circle.

Michael St. Ours, an agent with the Naval Criminal Intelligence Service, NCIS, provided the first tidbit. He testified for the prosecution that his job as a prison camps interrogator in May 2002 was to find and focus on the bodyguards among the detainees.

And Hamdan helped identify 30 of them — 10 percent of the roughly 300 detainees then held here. They had just been transferred to Camp Delta from the crude compound called Camp X-Ray, and U.S. intelligence was still trying to unmask them.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/45505.html

US seeks to link bin Laden driver to 9/11 attacks (Hamdan says Congress was a target)

Salim Hamdan confirms what many have suspected; Flight 93's target was Congress, not the White House. God bless those on 93; they may have saved the Constitution and the People from total destruction; if Congress had been taken out, COG would have been in full effect immediately, with the entire US a battlefield in the war of terror. Did Flight 77 make a loop cuz they couldn't decide whether to hit Congress or the Pentagon first?

"Salim Hamdan, the first prisoner to face a U.S. war-crimes trial since World War II, heard bin Laden say the plane was heading for "the dome," an apparent reference to the U.S. Capitol, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Stone."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hlkUMaokG6I7flYKGhlBfsW9qP9wD9231MG82

US seeks to link bin Laden driver to 9/11 attacks
By MIKE MELIA – 50 minutes ago

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — A former driver for Osama bin Laden knew the target of the fourth hijacked plane on Sept. 11, a prosecutor said Tuesday as he sought to undercut defense arguments that the Guantanamo prisoner was a low-level employee of the terrorist leader.

Gitmo judge: No 'coercive' questioning evidence

first 4 paragraphs, this is great news that the judge is attempting to follow centuries of legal precedent

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Gitmo_judge_No_coercive_questioning_evidence_0722.html

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - The judge in the first American war crimes trial since World War II barred evidence on Monday that interrogators obtained from Osama bin Laden's driver following his capture in Afghanistan.

Prosecutors are considering whether to appeal the judge's ruling — a development that could halt the trial of Salim Hamdan that began earlier Monday after years of delays and legal setbacks.

"We need to evaluate ... to what extent it has an impact on our ability to fully portray his criminality in this case, but also what it might set out for future cases," said Army Col. Lawrence Morris, the tribunals' chief prosecutor.

Hamdan, who was captured at a roadblock in Afghanistan in November 2001, pleaded not guilty at the start of a trial that will be closely watched as the first full test of the Pentagon's system for prosecuting alleged terrorists. He faces a maximum life sentence if convicted of conspiracy and aiding terrorism.

Bin Laden driver wants '9/11 braintrust' as witnesses

A testament to the power of words and truth, and the weakness of deceit and injustice:

"Meantime, a Pentagon prosecutor warned the judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, of dire consequences if he lets the defense call suspected Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and six other former CIA captives to testify for Hamdan.

''It's not the sky that might fall. It's another building,'' said prosecutor Clayton Trivett Jr. ``In the minds of some of these individuals, they hold some of the mostly closely guarded secrets in the national intelligence community.''"

http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/604656.html

Bin Laden driver wants '9/11 braintrust' as witnesses
Posted on Mon, Jul. 14, 2008

BY CAROL ROSENBERG
crosenberg@MiamiHerald.com

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- A Pentagon prosecutor warned Monday that testimony from an alleged al Qaeda kingpin, meant to clear Osama bin Laden's driver of war crimes, could help terrorists topple another American building.

A defense lawyer argued that the charges against the driver, Salim Hamdan of Yemen, were unconstitutional and urged dismissal.

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