Military Prosecutors Set To Open Major 9/11 Case

Alleged 9/11 mastermind won't testify - live

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/623820.html

7/31/2008

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- Reputed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed has balked at testifying in person at the trial of Osama bin Laden's driver, defense lawyers said Wednesday. Instead, the jury will get written statements from the al Qaeda kingpin and another alleged plotter in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Lawyers for Salim Hamdan, 37, plan to use the testimony of Mohammed and Walid Bin Attash to try to exonerate the driver, Hamdan, of being an al Qaeda co-conspirator.

One of those men has already written Hamdan's lawyers that the Yemeni with a fourth-grade education ''Was not fit to plan or execute,'' according to defense attorney Harry Schneider of Seattle. ``He is fit to change tires. And oil filters.''

The argument dovetails nicely with the driver's defense that he never joined al Qaeda, did not know in advance about the details of al Qaeda terror plots and merely drove for $200 a month -- and not for ideology.

The prosecution says he admitted to knowing broadly that ''operations'' were coming, and took part in high-security motorcades that spirited bin Laden and other top al Qaeda leaders safely around Afghanistan, in case of U.S. reprisal.

Moreover, they describe Hamdan as a sometime member of the al Qaeda leader's elite bodyguard unit, and a sometime weapons courier.

Defense lawyers have tried for months to get access to the alleged al Qaeda senior leaders in U.S. custody, formerly held by the CIA. The government resisted, until the eve of trial. The idea was to bring in what defense lawyers call self-confessed terrorists, people who are reportedly proud of their deeds to describe what Hamdan's role was in the organization, if any.

But Schneider notified the trial judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, late Wednesday afternoon that the so-called high-value detainee known in CIA circles as ''KSM'' would not be testifying in person, and neither would Bin Attash, who like Hamdan is a Yemeni.

Bin Attash is also implicated in both the 9/11 plot and the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole of Aden, Yemen, an event that Hamdan claims to have first believed was carried out by the Israelis, not his boss. Seventeen soldiers died in the suicide attack by two men who blew up an explosives-laden boat alongside the $1 billion U.S. Navy destroyer -- and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh initially blamed Israel's Mossad.

Last week, ''KSM refused to meet'' with Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, Schneider told the trial judge. Mizer is Hamdan's Pentagon-appointed attorney, and had the necessary security clearances to meet with former CIA-held captives. Schneider did not.

Moreover, Mohammed ''sent notice through his detailed defense counsel that he would refuse to go to court.'' So Schneider said they would use his and Bin Attash's earlier written responses to questions sent to them by the Hamdan.

Of Mohammed, who has convinced a Marine Corps judge to let him defend himself at his own death penalty trial, Schneider said: ``I see no value to seeing him testify forcibly.''

Still unclear was whether another supposed bin Laden lieutenant, Mahdi al Iraq, would be called to testify as the lone high-value detainee at the Hamdan trial.

Verdict due in US trial of bin Laden's driver

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Verdict_due_in_US_trial_of_bin_Lade_08032008.html

8/3/2008

A verdict awaits Osama bin Laden's former driver, Salim Hamdan, this week in a trial seen as a test of the controversial military tribunals set up by the US administration to try suspects in the "war on terror."

Accused of "conspiracy" and "material support to terrorism," the Yemeni national is the first inmate at the Guantanamo detention camp to face a full-scale trial before the special tribunals created by President George W. Bush.

Hamdan, who is about 40 years old, faces a possible sentence of life in prison if a jury of six military officers finds him guilty. He has already spent six years behind bars at the prison in the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

His lawyers have questioned the fairness of the proceedings and argued that Hamdan was an insignificant figure while employed by bin Laden from 1998 to 2001, saying he was not involved in any way in Al-Qaeda operations.

Several witnesses, including the alleged mastermind behind the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, said Hamdan had no advance knowledge of attacks orchestrated by bin Laden against US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 or the attacks of September 11, 2001 against New York and Washington.

"He was not fit to plan or execute," Mohammed, who is also due to be tried by the tribunals, said in written testimony.

"Hamdan had no previous knowledge of the operation, or any other one," he wrote, adding: "He is fit to change trucks' tires, change oil filters, wash and clean cars."

But the prosecution had FBI agents and other federal investigators tell the tribunal that interrogations showed Hamdan had spent time at Al-Qaeda training camps, was part of an inner circle loyal to bin Laden and that he had helped transport weapons including surface-to-air missiles.

The interrogations cited in the case were conducted after Hamdan's capture in November 2001 in Afghanistan following the US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban regime there.

With closing arguments set for Monday, the military jurors could begin their deliberations on Monday amid predictions from human rights groups that Hamdan will likely be found guilty on at least some of the charges.

The Bush administration hopes the first war crimes trial since World War II will show critics at home and abroad that the Guantanamo tribunals, or commissions, offer the accused a fair process.

The administration has faced heated criticism over the Guantanamo prison, which has held detainees without charges for years, and the special tribunals which operate under different rules than regular civilian or military courts.

Only a small group of authorized observers and journalists are allowed into the small courtroom and military authorities prohibit the proceedings to be videotaped by any television news networks. Reporters can bring in a pencil and notebook, nothing else.

Hamdan sits alongside his attorneys, unrestrained by cuffs or shackles, with headphones over his white turban providing him with Arabic translation.

Captain Keith Allred, the military officer presiding over the case, has barred some statements from being admitted as evidence ruling they were obtained in coercive conditions while Hamdan was under US detention in Afghanistan.

Defense lawyers charged Hamdan was subjected to abuse while in US custody, including humiliating interrogation tactics and sleep deprivation.

But the Pentagon denies any abuse and says the military commissions offer a fair and just trial.

Five inmates at Guantanamo accused of participating in the September 11 attacks, including Mohammed, are scheduled to be tried in coming months.

And the trial of Omar Khadr, a Canadian national captured in Afghanistan when he was 15 years old, is also expected to go ahead later this year in Guantanamo.

Hamdan Seen as 'Not Fit' for Terror
Alleged 9/11 Architect Says bin Laden's Driver Was 'Not a Soldier'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/01/AR2008080100982.html?hpid=sec-nation

By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 2, 2008; Page A07

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Aug. 1 -- Osama bin Laden's former driver was a "primitive" chauffeur and mechanic who "was not fit to plan or execute" terrorist attacks, the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks told jurors in writing Friday at the driver's military trial.

Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged Sept. 11 architect, wrote that Salim Ahmed Hamdan was a low-level support staffer who never joined al-Qaeda and did not share bin Laden's ideology. Hamdan is on trial in the first U.S. military commission since World War II. His lawyers rested their case Friday, and closing arguments are scheduled for Monday.

"He did not play any role. He was not a soldier, he was a driver," Mohammed said in answers to written questions from Hamdan's lawyers that were relayed to the six military jurors. "His nature was more primitive (Bedouin) person and far from civilization. He was not fit to plan or execute."

The testimony provided another tantalizing glimpse inside the mind of Mohammed, who has been charged in the most devastating terrorist attack in U.S. history and has been a figure of intrigue since his arrest in 2003. He sketched out a vision of al-Qaeda as a group whose members also have "wives and children and schools" and said that anyone who thinks a mere driver would be involved in attacks "is a fool."

Attorneys for Hamdan, who is charged with ferrying weapons for al-Qaeda as part of a terrorism conspiracy, had wanted Mohammed to testify live in court at the U.S. detention facility here. They had told jurors there was "a significant chance" they would hear from the perpetrators of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

But Mohammed, after answering written questions, refused to meet with Hamdan's lawyers and declined to appear in court. His written remarks back up the defense's argument that Hamdan was a mere chauffeur uninvolved in terrorism. But it is uncertain if a military jury will take the word of an accused al-Qaeda leader.

The statements of Mohammed, who first appeared in court in June and railed at the military commission system that is expected to try him as well, revealed no lack of self-confidence. He called himself the "executive director of 9/11" and said he oversaw all al-Qaeda cells operating outside Afghanistan. He dismissed drivers such as Hamdan, a Yemeni father of two with a fourth-grade education, as mostly "illiterate."

His statement said Americans do not understand that al-Qaeda is a multifaceted terrorist organization that also employs a support network of professionals, such as teachers and computer engineers. "We are not gangs," he wrote.

"As the American Army (we) have drivers, cooks, crewmen and legal personal," Mohammed wrote, according to a translation from his original Arabic that was provided to the jurors. "We also, are human beings . . . we have interests in life. Our people have wives and children and schools. . . . You can not understand terrorism and Al-Qaeda from 9/11 operation."

He said al-Qaeda has been able to carry out its attacks successfully because of the group's diffuse structure and penchant for secrecy.

"One of the reasons for the success of the outside operations is the secrecy of the operations," Mohammed wrote. "So many of (bin Laden's) inner circles have no knowledge of what he was planning and so many of Al-Qaeda's members and even the trainers at the military camps do not have any knowledge of the works of the outside cells. That includes the civilian employees."

Hamdan, whom prosecution witnesses have described as personally close to bin Laden, was a mere cog in the al-Qaeda structure, the self-proclaimed terrorist leader wrote. "He was a driver and auto mechanic . . . he was not at all a military man," Mohammed said. "He is fit to change trucks' tires, change oil filters, wash and clean cars, and fasten cargo in pick up trucks."

Mohammed also attempted to shed light on what Hamdan was doing when he was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001. Prosecution witnesses testified that Hamdan had two shoulder-fired missiles in his car when he was arrested and that he told interrogators he transported weapons for al-Qaeda.

After the United States attacked Afghanistan following Sept. 11, Hamdan's job was to transport "Al-Qaeda's families" out of harm's way, Mohammed said. He would know, Mohammed added, because "I was personally responsible for transporting and getting out all families from Afghanistan to Pakistan."

A statement by another detainee also said Hamdan was not involved.

US: Bin Laden driver helped make 9/11 possible

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hlkUMaokG6I7flYKGhlBfsW9qP9wD92BJP900

By MIKE MELIA – 1 hour ago

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — Osama bin Laden's former driver offered the terrorist leader aid and protection that helped make the Sept. 11 attacks possible, prosecutors said Monday in closing arguments at the first Guantanamo war crimes trial.

Prosecutor John Murphy said evidence in Salim Hamdan's two-week trial showed the Yemeni detainee played a "vital role" in the conspiracy behind the 2001 attacks.

"There's an intricate pattern in which this accused helped in the preparation of and transportation of the leadership that made this possible," said Murphy, a civilian attorney with the Justice Department.

But Hamdan's Pentagon-appointed attorney countered that the defendant was merely a low-level bin Laden employee who never joined the al-Qaida conspiracy against the United States.

"Not one witness said he had any role in the terrorist attacks themselves," Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer said in closing arguments. "Mr. Hamdan is not an al-Qaida warrior."

A jury of military officers is expected to begin deliberating a verdict later Monday in the case against Hamdan, who is charged with conspiracy and supporting terrorism. He faces a maximum life sentence if convicted at the first U.S. war crimes trial since World War II.

The judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, told the jury of six military officers that at least four must find Hamdan guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt" to convict him.

Allred reminded jurors that he allowed evidence from FBI interrogators who did not advise Hamdan of his right against self-incrimination and urged them to decide its merit for themselves.

"You must decide the weight and significance, if any, such statements deserve," Allred told the jurors, who were hand-picked by the Pentagon and flown to the base in southern Cuba for the case.

Hamdan was captured at a roadblock in southern Afghanistan in November 2001 with two surface-to-air missiles in the car. Prosecutors accused Hamdan of transporting weapons for al-Qaida and evacuating bin Laden to safety after learning he was about to launch terrorist "operations," including the Sept. 11 attacks.

Hamdan is one of roughly 80 prisoners that the Pentagon plans to prosecute in the tribunal system.

So far, only one Guantanamo inmate has been convicted. Australian David Hicks reached a plea agreement that sent him home to serve a nine-month prison sentence.

Changing lug nuts not a war crime, jury told

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/_Changing_lug_nuts_not_war_0804.html

Reuters
Published: Monday August 4, 2008

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden's driver performed vital services that enabled "the world's most dangerous terrorist" to launch attacks, a prosecutor told jurors before they began deliberations on Monday in the first U.S. war crimes trial at Guantanamo.

But defense lawyers for Yemeni captive Salim Hamdan argued he was merely a hired laborer akin to the defense contractors who provide services to U.S. forces. "Changing lug nuts and oil filters" were hardly war crimes, they said..

Hamdan was not even trusted to know where he was driving bin Laden until after a convoy departed, Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, his U.S. military defense lawyer, told the jury of six U.S. military officers.

Hamdan, who is about 38, was captured in November 2001 in Afghanistan, where he had worked in bin Laden's motor pool since 1996. He could face life in prison if convicted of conspiring with al Qaeda and supporting terrorism in the first U.S. war crimes tribunal since World War Two.

Even if he is acquitted, or sentenced to less than the six years he has already spent in captivity, the United States says it still can hold him as an "unlawful enemy combatant" until the end of the war on terrorism declared by President George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks.

Hamdan says he drove for bin Laden because he needed the $200 monthly wage but denies joining al Qaeda, pledging loyalty to bin Laden or participating in attacks.

Prosecutors portrayed Hamdan as a key conspirator who enthusiastically drove and protected the al Qaeda leader, knowing that bin Laden's goals included murdering Americans and taking down Western nations.

"He's an al Qaeda warrior. He has wounded - and the people he has worked with - have wounded the world," prosecutor John Murphy said.

The prosecutor said Hamdan ferried al Qaeda weapons and served as bin Laden's bodyguard. He was assigned to drive him to safety if his convoy came under attack, providing the last line of defense for the man at "the top of this terror pyramid," Murphy said.

"These terror attacks could not have been carried out without the ability to transport the leadership before, during and after the attacks and allow them to kill on another day," he said.

The defense recounted testimony that Hamdan was bored by bin Laden's speeches and that when captured at a checkpoint in Afghanistan, he ran and hid in a ditch rather than fire the AK-47 he carried. Afterward, Hamdan led U.S. forces on a tour of Kandahar, pointing out al Qaeda safe houses, Mizer said.

He said Hamdan had cooperated with U.S. interrogators, and alluded to secret testimony that journalists were not allowed to hear, apparently referring to an offer Hamdan had made to help U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

"You know what happened, how we squandered that opportunity," Mizer told the jurors.

Mizer also recounted written testimony from accused September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who described his fellow Guantanamo prisoner as a primitive Bedouin only interested in bin Laden's money and unfit to plan and execute attacks.

Defense lawyers portrayed the prosecution's case as guilt by association and said Hamdan was no more involved in al Qaeda attacks than were bin Laden's cooks, farmers and goatherds.

"Hitler's driver was never charged with a war crime and it doesn't work that way today," defense lawyer Joseph McMillan said.

Hamdan's trial is the first to be conducted by the controversial tribunals the Bush administration create to prosecute non-U.S. citizens outside the civilian and military court system.

An Australian former captive, al Qaeda trainee David Hicks, avoided trial at Guantanamo by pleading guilty to providing material support for terrorism and finished his nine-month sentence in his homeland last year.

At least four of the six military jurors must agree by secret, written ballot in order to return a guilty verdict for Hamdan.

Gitmo detainees subject to detention even if acquitted: Pentagon

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Gitmo_detainees_subject_to_detentio_08052008.html

8/5/2008

Some detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba will likely never be released because of the danger they pose, and those tried and acquitted will still be subject to continued detention as enemy combatants, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday.

Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, made the remarks as Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni, awaited a verdict in the first war crimes trial to be held under a special regime created for "war on terror" suspects.

Morrell said Hamdan, a former driver of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, could appeal the verdict in US courts.

"But in the near term, at least, we would consider him an enemy combatant and still a danger and would likely still be detained for some period of time thereafter," he said.

Morrell said there were plans for at least 20 more such trials at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba but he said a significant portion of the detainees being held there would neither be tried nor released.

He said efforts were being made to reduce the size of the population through transfers of prisoners to their home countries for incarceration or release.

"But I think, you know, there are still a significant population within Guantanamo who will likely never be released because of the threat they pose to the world, for that matter," he said.

Military jury convicts bin Laden's driver

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hlkUMaokG6I7flYKGhlBfsW9qP9wD92CRJ300

By MIKE MELIA – 2 hours ago

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — A jury of six military officers at Guantanamo Bay reached a split verdict Wednesday in the war crimes trial of a former driver for Osama bin Laden, clearing him of some charges but convicting him of others that could send him to prison for life.

The Pentagon-selected jury deliberated for about eight hours over three days before convicting Salim Hamdan of supporting terrorism. He was cleared of the conspiracy charge.

Hamdan, who faces a maximum life sentence, held his head in his hands and wept at the defense table after a Navy captain presiding over the jury read the sentence in a hilltop courtroom on this U.S. Navy base.

The judge scheduled a sentencing hearing for later Wednesday.

Defense lawyers had feared a guilty verdict was inevitable, saying the tribunal system's rules seemed designed to achieve convictions, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, Salim Hamdan's Pentagon-appointed attorney.

"I don't know if the panel can render fair what has already happened," Mizer told reporters as the jury deliberated.

Hamdan's attorneys said the judge allowed evidence that would not have been admitted by any civilian or military U.S. court, and that interrogations at the center of the government's case were tainted by coercive tactics, including sleep deprivation and solitary confinement.

Supporters of the tribunals said the Bush administration's system provided extraordinary due process rights for defendants.

"This military judge is to be commended for providing a fair and internationally legally sufficient trial for the accused and the government — regardless of the ultimate verdict," said Charles "Cully" Stimson, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs.

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

The military accused him of transporting missiles for al-Qaida and helping bin Laden escape U.S. retribution following the Sept. 11 attacks by driving him around Afghanistan. Defense attorneys said he was merely a low-level bin Laden employee.

Bin Laden's Driver Apologizes For 9/11
Salim Hamdan Apologizes for the Innocent Victims of the 9/11 Attacks

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/wireStory?id=5532477

8/7/2008

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden's driver apologized on Thursday in a sentencing hearing in a U.S. war crimes court at Guantanamo for any pain his services to al Qaeda caused its U.S. victims.

"I don't know what could be given or presented to these innocent people who were killed in the U.S.," Salim Hamdan told a jury of six military officers deciding his fate after convicting him of providing material support for terrorism.

"I personally present my apologies to them if anything what I did have caused them pain," he said through an Arabic-English interpreter at the first U.S. war crimes tribunal since the aftermath of World War Two.

A forensic psychiatrist who interviewed the Yemeni captive behind the razor wire at the U.S. naval base in Cuba reported that Hamdan wept when he first saw videotape of planes crashing into the World Trade Towers in the September 11 attacks, and that he prayed for the victims.

White House pleased by Bin Laden driver verdict

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/06/white-house-pleased-by-bin-laden-driver-verdict/

ASSOCIATED PRESS
8/7/2008

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House said Wednesday it's pleased with the outcome of the war crimes trial for a former driver for Osama bin Laden, although the jury delivered a split verdict.

The jury of six military officers at Guantanamo Bay cleared Salim Hamdan of conspiracy charges but convicted him of supporting terrorism, which could send him to prison for life.

A White House spokesman defended the process, although critics have questioned the fairness of the military commissions.

"We're pleased that Salim Hamdan received a fair trial," Deputy spokesman Tony Fratto said in a statement.

Fratto said Hamden was presumed innocent and had an opportunity to present a defense against war crimes charges.

"The Military Commission system is a fair and appropriate legal process for prosecuting detainees alleged to have committed crimes against the United States or our interests," Fratto said. "We look forward to other cases moving forward to trial."

The Trial of bin Laden’s Driver

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/opinion/l11gitmo.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=opinion&adxnnlx=1218463209-R8izcAzLLNOVnbFqxYYXrQ

8/11/2008

Re “Panel Convicts bin Laden Driver in Split Verdict” (front page, Aug. 7):

Our husbands were killed on Sept. 11, 2001; thus we have a personal interest in the Guantánamo trials and their outcome.

Since neither the promised closed-circuit TV nor the 9/11 family member trip to Cuba has materialized, we must rely on reporters to be kept informed about these proceedings.

We understand that the practices being used by these military commissions, such as allowing hearsay evidence and coerced testimony, are questionable at best and un-American at worst. What we have not been allowed to see could fill an encyclopedia.

But we do know that it has taken almost seven years for our government to convict Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s driver, of material support of terrorism. What about those who allegedly financed the terrorists, like the Saudis? Wouldn’t this be considered material support of terrorism? When will they be tried?

All Americans should sit up and take notice — if only they had access to the information!

Monica Gabrielle
Lorie Van Auken
Baiting Hollow, N.Y., Aug. 7, 2008

•

To the Editor:

Re “Guilty as Ordered” (editorial, Aug. 7):

I’m not surprised at all that Salim Ahmed Hamdan was acquitted on one of the charges. If I were trying to apply a thin veneer of credibility to my kangaroo court, that is precisely the result I would have scripted for its first trial.

Tracy Brooking
Kennesaw, Ga., Aug. 7, 2008

•

To the Editor:

Has anyone asked what would have happened to the careers of the Army officers comprising the jury if they had found Salim Ahmed Hamdan not guilty of a statute written expressly for him well after he was captured?

Gus Nicholas
Pittsburgh, Aug. 7, 2008

•

To the Editor:

Re “Panel Sentences bin Laden Driver to a Short Term” (front page, Aug. 8):

For any person who ever believed that the term “military justice” is an oxymoron, look no further than the results of the sentencing phase of the Hamdan trial.

Because so many uniformed lawyers, including prosecutors and judges, as well as defense lawyers, all insisted that they would not be party to a complete perversion of the military justice system, in spite of what the civilian establishment wanted, Salim Ahmed Hamdan was found guilty, but essentially sentenced to time served.

Capt. Keith J. Allred of the Navy, the military judge, instructed the uniformed jury members that Mr. Hamdan would be given full credit for the time he already served, so they knew full well when they sentenced him to five and a half years that he would be required to serve only another five months.

Clearly the jury members were not to be swayed by hysterics or undue command pressure. That’s the way it worked when I was in the Navy judge advocate general corps more than 25 years ago, and it’s still working that way today.

Stephen David Dix
Marietta, Ga., Aug. 8, 2008

•

To the Editor:

I do not know Salim Ahmed Hamdan, nor do I know much about what he did or did not do. I do know that the military prison at Guantánamo Bay and the military tribunal system put in place there specifically to avoid recognizing the basic rights of prisoners has made me feel shame for my country.

It was heartening then, to see the Hamdan jury of military officers do what they felt was right in the face of significant government pressure not to (“Panel Sentences bin Laden Driver to a Short Term,” front page, Aug. 8). Their courage and commitment to humanity and fairness put our country’s finest core values on display for the world and made me proud to be an American.

Jim Bristow
San Francisco, Aug. 8, 2008

•

To the Editor:

Osama bin Laden’s driver faces prison while Mr. bin Laden goes free.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Ilya Shlyakhter
Cambridge, Mass., Aug. 8, 2008

'Spray and pray': Pentagon's Gitmo adviser accused of bullying, rushing trials

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Spray_and_pray_Pentagons_Gitmo_adviser_0813.html

Associated Press
Published: Wednesday August 13, 2008

A Pentagon official who oversees the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals faced new internal criticism Wednesday as a prison commander accused him of bullying subordinates and trying to rush forward with trials.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, whose management of the tribunals prompted the chief prosecutor to resign last year, was "abusive, bullying, unprofessional" when demanding files on prisoners, said Army Brig. Gen. Gregory Zanetti, the second-in-command at the U.S. prison.

Zanetti testified that Hartmann, the legal adviser for the tribunals, pushed for the trials to start amid legal challenges filed by lawyers for the prisoners.

"The strategy seemed to be spray and pray," he said. "Charge everybody. Let's go. Speed, speed speed."

Zanetti's testimony came in a pretrial hearing for Mohammed Jawad, an Afghan accused of wounding two U.S. soldiers with a grenade in 2002. Jawad's lawyer is seeking to have the charges dismissed, arguing that Hartmann improperly interfered with the case.

A judge in the trial of another detainee, Salim Hamdan, previously disqualified Hartmann from participating in that case, saying he aligned himself too closely with prosecutors.

Hamdan was convicted last week and sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison, concluding the first Guantanamo war crimes trial.

The U.S. has said it plans to prosecute about 80 prisoners at Guantanamo and others are expected to file similar challenges against Hartmann.

At an April hearing at Guantanamo, former chief prosecutor Air Force Col. Morris Davis testified that Hartmann meddled in his office and pushed for certain cases to be pursued over others based on political considerations. Davis resigned in October.

Zanetti, a liaison between the detention center and the tribunals, said Hartmann wanted control of the entire process without regard for command structure, but the approach was not considered all bad because it produced results.

"We kind of respected it because the process hadn't been moving," Zanetti said.

Hartmann supervises the chief prosecutor at Guantanamo and has extensive powers over the tribunal system.

The legal adviser has said he believed he was doing his job properly. He was expected to testify Wednesday in a separate courtroom to address a challenge by lawyers for a Canadian detainee who have also accused him of "unlawful influence."

Guantanamo trials put generals at odds

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080813/us_nm/guantanamo_hearings_dc_4

By Jane Sutton
Wed Aug 13, 6:50 PM ET

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - The U.S. military was so eager to get the sluggish Guantanamo war crimes trials moving that the legal adviser to the Pentagon overseer adopted a "spray and pray" approach to pursuing charges, a U.S. general testified on Wednesday.

"The strategy seemed to be spray and pray, let's go, speed, speed, speed," Army. Brig. Gen. Gregory Zanetti said. "Charge 'em, charge 'em, charge 'em and let's pray that we can pull this off."

Zanetti, the deputy commander of the military task force that runs the Guantanamo detention operation, testified in a pretrial hearing for Mohammed Jawad.

The Afghan prisoner is accused of throwing a grenade into a U.S. military Jeep at a bazaar in Kabul in December 2002, wounding two U.S. soldiers and their Afghan interpreter.

Jawad's military lawyers said the charges should be dismissed because they were tainted by unlawful influence from Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, the officer appointed to give impartial legal advice to the Pentagon official overseeing the war crimes tribunals at the U.S. military base in Cuba.

Wednesday's testimony pitted one U.S. general against another, exposing some of the internal fractures within the military regarding a tribunal process long condemned by human rights advocates as corrupted by politics.

Testifying by video link from the Pentagon on Wednesday, Hartmann said he viewed it as his mission to get the trials moving but in a fair and transparent manner. He acknowledged telling prosecutors he wanted cases that would "capture the public's imagination."

GENERAL'S CONTROVERSIAL ROLE
Lawyers for Osama bin Laden's driver, Salim Hamdan, succeeded in getting Hartmann banned from further involvement in that case before Hamdan's trial began. Hamdan was convicted last week on charges of providing material support for terrorism and sentenced to 5-1/2 years in prison, most of which he has already served at Guantanamo.

That was the first full trial since the United States began sending suspected al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners to Guantanamo in January 2002. The Pentagon plans to try as many as 80.

The former chief prosecutor, Air Force Col. Moe Davis, testified in that case that Hartmann took over the prosecution office, demanding charges in "sexy" cases in which defendants had "blood on their hands" and dictating who would be charged and when.

Davis testified on Wednesday that Jawad's case "went from the freezer to the frying pan thanks to Gen. Hartmann."

He repeated allegations that prosecutors were pushed to file charges before the November U.S. presidential election against five prisoners accused of plotting the September 11 attacks.

Zanetti characterized Hartmann as "abusive, bullying and unprofessional" and said he regularly delivered profanity-laced tirades that reduced an airborne ranger to "a puddle."

He quoted Hartmann as saying he was "taking over this thing" and that he advised Guantanamo officers during videoconferences "who he was going to charge and when."

Hartmann in his testimony said he did question prosecutors about the strengths and weaknesses of cases under consideration but never directed whom should be charged or with what.

Hartmann's role is also the subject of a defense request to drop the charges against Canadian prisoner Omar Khadr, who is charged with murdering U.S. Army Sgt. Christopher Speer with a hand grenade during a firefight at a suspected al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan in 2002.

Pretrial hearings were held simultaneously on Wednesday for Jawad and Khadr, who both face life in prison if convicted on charges stemming from alleged actions as juveniles.

Hartmann acknowledged briefing Canadian government officials about Khadr's case and providing them with copies of legal filings that had been mentioned in news reports.

The hearings continue on Thursday for Khadr who was 15 when captured and is now 21, and Jawad, who was 16 or 17 when captured and is now 23.

Pentagon official removed from 2nd Gitmo trial

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7725421

By MIKE MELIA
Associated Press Writer
8/16/2008

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - A military judge on Thursday barred a Pentagon official from taking part in a second war crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay, providing more ammunition for detainee lawyers who allege that political interference taints the proceedings.

The ruling will fuel defense challenges in other trials at this U.S. Navy base, where a former chief prosecutor and defense lawyers have accused Air Force Brig Gen. Thomas Hartmann, the legal adviser to the tribunals, of demanding that certain cases be pursued over others based on political considerations.

The judge, Army Col. Steve Hanley, ruled that Hartmann compromised his objectivity in public statements aligning himself with prosecutors and defending the Pentagon's system for prosecuting alleged terrorists.

Hartmann, who was also barred from the first Guantanamo war crimes trial, will not be allowed to provide further advice in the case against an Afghan detainee. But the judge rejected a defense request to dismiss war crimes charges against the prisoner, Mohammed Jawad.

The former chief prosecutor, Air Force Col. Morris Davis, testified that Hartmann pushed for Jawad to be charged because the American public would be gripped by the details of the case - a grenade attack on two U.S. soldiers and their interpreter in Afghanistan.

"The guy who threw the grenade was always at the top of the list,'' Davis said.

Jawad's attorney, Air Force Maj. David Frakt, said the ruling "really affects some of the high-profile cases that Gen. Hartmann has had his hands in.''

Guantanamo's chief prosecutor, Army Col. Lawrence Morris, said he expects further challenges over Hartmann's role in other cases.

"We are going to have to address those in court,'' Morris told The Associated Press.

Among those who have challenged Hartmann's involvement in the preparation of charges are lawyers for five men accused in the Sept. 11 attacks, including alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Hartmann supervises the chief prosecutor at Guantanamo and has extensive powers over the tribunal system. He testified Wednesday that he believed he was doing his job properly and said he has not offered to resign.

A judge in America's first war-crimes trial since World War II disqualified Hartmann from participating in that case. The defendant, Salim Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden, was convicted last week and sentenced to 5 years in prison.

9/11 mastermind takes lead role in Gitmo courtroom

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hZXxZ9jWlnYZ5G_1_W_-FG8F2vHwD93CJVNG0

By MIKE MELIA – 59 minutes ago

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — Professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed took center stage in a military court Tuesday as he questioned the judge's impartiality and acted as the de facto spokesman for his four co-defendants.

Mohammed, the highest-profile al-Qaida figure in U.S. custody, boasted at a 2007 closed hearing that he was responsible for 31 terrorist plots and the Sept. 11 attacks "from A to Z" — claims that U.S. officials said were exaggerated.

Mohammed's interactions with the judge and his co-defendants on Tuesday underscored his taste for the limelight and sense of authority. The former al-Qaida No. 3 has led his co-defendants in raising challenges to the court and even assisted in getting a boycotting co-defendant to leave his cell.

Glaring at Judge Ralph Kohlmann from beneath bushy eyebrows and a black turban, Mohammed pressed the Marine colonel to explain how he could provide a fair trial as a member of the U.S. Armed Forces that are at war with al-Qaida.

"How can you, as an officer of the U.S. Marine Corps, stand over me in judgment?" Mohammed, who is acting as his own lawyer, asked in English. "How can you be unbiased, given your position?"

Mohammed also questioned the judge about his religion, his Marine training and his knowledge of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics Mohammed experienced in CIA custody before he and his co-defendants were transferred to this U.S. military base in southeast Cuba in September 2006.

Seeking to justify his question about Kohlmann's religious faith, Mohammed declared that "there are some extremist organizations in America that are against us."

"If you for example were part of Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson's groups, then you would not at all be impartial toward us," Mohammed continued.

Kohlmann, wearing black judge's robes over his uniform, responded that he doesn't belong to a church now but has attended Lutheran and Episcopalian services.

He said he had seen references to the prisoners' treatment in CIA custody but has not read detailed accounts of their experience. According to the rules set forth for the first U.S. war-crimes trials since the end of World War II, the judge can exclude evidence that he determines was obtained through torture.

But Kohlmann made clear his patience is limited. He scolded Mohammed twice for ignoring his instructions to stick to the topic at hand, and warned he could lose the right to represent himself.

"You are not going to have free rein," Kohlmann intoned from the bench. "I will not allow you to act in a manner that is disrespectful to this court."

During breaks, Mohammed pivoted in his seat at his defense table and chatted amiably in Arabic with his co-defendants who sat at their own tables arrayed behind him, despite complaints that he used a similar opportunity in June to pressure the others to reject their Pentagon-appointed defense lawyers. His co-defendants later denied they were intimidated.

Kohlmann initially proposed beginning Tuesday's pretrial hearing with questions from lesser-known detainees. But the other four defendants agreed one by one that Mohammed, seated at the table closest to the judge, should go first.

All five face the death penalty if convicted of their roles in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

Mohammed has also offered himself as a problem solver. With his co-defendant Ramzi Binalshibh refusing to appear in court on Monday, Mohammed raised his hand and volunteered to help persuade him to come. The three others agreed to help as well and all four sent letters to Binalshibh.

Binalshibh, accused of helping the Sept. 11 hijackers enter the United States and find flight schools, agreed to leave his cell and came to court on Tuesday. In court, Binalshibh followed up Mohammed's questions about the judge's religion.

"As far as I know, your last name is Kohlmann, which is a Jewish name, not a Christian name," Binalshibh said

The judge said Binalshibh's statement was inaccurate, told him not to interrupt, and asked Mohammed to resume his questions.

Guantanamo war-crime trials advisor is reassigned
Military judges in three separate cases had barred Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann from further participation in various aspects of the military commissions.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gitmo20-2008sep20,0,5785697.story

By Peter Finn, Washington Post
September 20, 2008

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon transferred a controversial senior official involved in overseeing the war-crimes trials at Guantanamo Bay into a new position Friday, a move that was anticipated after military judges in three separate cases barred Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann from further participation in various aspects of the military commissions.

Defense officials, who would discuss the reassignment only on the condition of anonymity, said Hartmann's position became untenable after judges ruled that he had improperly influenced prosecutors by pressing them to move to trial quickly and, over their objections, used evidence obtained from interrogations that involved coercive techniques. Legal disputes over Hartmann's role threatened to delay trials that the Bush administration wants to see up and running.

The Defense Department said in a statement Friday that Hartmann will remain involved as director of operations, planning and development for military commissions. His deputy, Michael Chapman, will become the new legal advisor.

"Gen. Hartmann has driven the commissions process forward since his arrival in July 2007," Daniel J. Dell'Orto, acting general counsel at the Pentagon, said in a statement. "In no small part because of his efforts and his dedication, the commissions are an active, operational legal system."

Hartmann was the legal advisor to the convening authority, Susan J. Crawford, a Pentagon lawyer whose role is to exercise a neutral role in the commissions, overseeing but not dictating the work of prosecutors and allocating resources to both the prosecution and defense.

Military defense lawyers, human rights groups and a former lead prosecutor expressed dismay that Hartmann will remain in a position that they say will allow him to continue influencing cases.

"Elevating his deputy and leaving him in the process, I'm afraid, will be like the Vladimir Putin-Dmitry Medvedev relationship where there's some real doubt over who pulls the strings," said Col. Morris Davis, a former chief military prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, drawing a parallel to the Russian prime minister and the protege he helped elevate to the presidency.

Lt. Cmdr. William C. Kuebler, military defense counsel for Canadian defendant Omar Khadr, said in a statement that "Hartmann's reassignment should be seen for what it is -- a thin veneer for what amounts to being fired for his excessive and unlawful interference in the military commissions process."

Human Rights Watch said that "instead of trying to clean up house, the Pentagon has now moved a man accused of bullying prosecutors to bring cases to trial and dismissing concerns about evidence being tainted by torture into a position coordinating all matters relating to the commissions."

Hartmann dismissed the criticism: "We are going to produce fair, open and just trials."

Attorneys for some of the most high-profile defendants at Guantanamo, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is accused of being the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, are still seeking to have the charges against their clients dismissed because of Hartmann's actions.

9/11 Defendant Queries Judge on Beliefs
Accused Mastermind Tries to Prove Bias

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/23/AR2008092303341.html

By Peter Finn
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 24, 2008; Page A16

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Sept. 23 -- Invoking names such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Buchanan, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the admitted organizer of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, probed the private opinions of the military judge who is overseeing his case Tuesday in a series of sometimes testy exchanges during a hearing on the judge's impartiality.

Mohammed, wearing a black turban, began by asking Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann about his religious beliefs and whether he had any association with the religious organizations of Pat Robertson or the late Jerry Falwell.

"If you are in one of those denominations, you are not going to be fair," said Mohammed, who switched between Arabic and English when he spoke to the judge. The judge said he had not belonged to any congregation for some time but had attended Lutheran and Episcopal churches.

The pretrial hearing provided Mohammed and four other defendants facing murder and war crimes charges for their alleged involvement in the terrorist attacks with the opportunity to discover any bias that would suggest Kohlmann should recuse himself. Three of the five, including Mohammed, are representing themselves.

Kohlmann, who will rule on his own impartiality, noted that he had responded to nearly 600 questions in writing. Tuesday's proceeding allowed the defendants and their attorneys to ask follow-up questions.

Ramzi Binalshibh, another defendant, interjected, "Your last name is Kohlmann, which is a Jewish name, not a Christian name." Kohlmann told him he was mistaken.

Binalshibh had previously refused to appear in court but showed up voluntarily Tuesday after Mohammed and the other defendants, with the court's approval, sent notes to his cell asking him to take his seat.

Binalshibh continued to insist that he represents himself and attacked his lawyers for, among other things, raising questions about his mental state. Navy Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier, Binalshibh's assigned military defense attorney, noted that Binalshibh was reading a newspaper article and apparently oblivious when the judge was explaining the defendant's need to be in court and his rights.

"She was busy writing," retorted Binalshibh, who said he simply did not want to look at the judge. He added forcefully: "I am not mentally incompetent."

Apart from Binalshibh's interruption, Mohammed was the only defendant to question the judge. He focused for some time on a seminar the judge led at his daughter's high school in 2005. The judge, who revealed the seminar in a previous case held at Guantanamo Bay, held a class on the legal and ethical issues associated with torture or coercive interrogation.

"It appears that you are supportive of torture for the sake of national security. Is that correct?" Mohammed asked.

Kohlmann said he laid out a "ticking-bomb scenario" and then challenged the students to examine their initial responses. But he said he provided no answer to "what would be permissible or ethical or lawful."

Lawyers for the other defendants also probed the judge's attitude toward torture and its definition, but Kohlmann largely sidestepped the issue.

Mohammed's sometimes rambling disquisition even touched on the Marine Corps Rifleman's Creed. "Is that right: Every Marine is a rifleman?" Mohammed asked, wondering aloud how any Marine could judge him and the other defendants when the Corps was fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and "killing our people."

When Kohlmann told Mohammed that some of his questions were irrelevant, the defendant muttered aloud, "You reject to answer."

Kohlmann then warned Mohammed that he will be held to the same standard as any lawyer before the court and that he risked losing his ability to represent himself if he persisted with such asides.

The judge also said Mohammed's questions seemed to be an attempt "to develop a personality profile." The exchange came after Mohammed asked whether the judge read books by Billy Graham or Pat Buchanan, and what movies he watched.

"I decline to provide you with my reading list or my movie list," Kohlmann said.

9/11 defendant mounts vigorous defense

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/09/24/news/CB-Guantanamo-Sept-11-Trial.php

The Associated Press
Published: September 24, 2008

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba: The proclaimed architect of the Sept. 11 attacks once declared that he wanted to be executed and become a martyr. But Khalid Sheikh Mohammed mounted a vigorous defense during a pretrial hearing on Wednesday, even asking the military judge to remove himself.

Acting as his own attorney, Mohammed's readiness to raise challenges on behalf of himself and his four co-defendants ensured that their trial won't be short. The case now has little chance of going to trial before the end of the Bush administration.

Charles "Cully" Stimson, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, said Mohammed aims to use the military tribunal to rally al-Qaida supporters.

"KSM will mess with the system to the extent he can, and he will use the trial as a platform to speak to those who look up to him as a hero," Stimson told The Associated Press in an e-mail.

Mohammed on Wednesday asked Judge Ralph Kohlmann, a Marine colonel, to recuse himself, arguing that Kohlmann sees the defendants as "Islamic extremists."

I don't believe you respect Muslims and therefore won't provide me a just ruling," said Mohammed, who wore a black turban above a long gray beard streaked with white, using halting English.

The judge dismissed Mohammed's challenges of his impartiality and refused to recuse himself.

At Mohammed's arraignment in June — his first public appearance since he was captured in Pakistan in 2003 — Kohlmann warned him that he faces the death penalty for his confessed role as mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that killed 2,973 people. Mohammed said he would welcome becoming a martyr.

The defendants, who all face the death penalty if convicted, have not yet entered a plea.

But in court, Mohammed and his four co-defendants pressed requests for computer equipment, translated court transcripts and telephone access. All five are held with other "high-value" detainees in a secret location on this U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba.

"This is going to be a long, long, long battle before these accused get sentenced," said Army Maj. Jon Jackson, an attorney for defendant Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi. His client allegedly provided the Sept. 11 hijackers with money and Western-style clothing.

Complaining of botched Arabic translations in the courtroom, the detainees also asked for the proceedings to be suspended until more competent interpreters are appointed. Mohammed filed a handwritten note in support of the motion, saying he has to resort to using "broken English."

Kohlmann did not immediately rule on the defendants' requests, but lead prosecutor Robert Swann said the government is preparing to issue each defendant a laptop computer loaded with 40,782 pages of documents and more than 50 videos.

Swann said they could not safely be provided with requested printers or other equipment with electrical cords, presumably because of the danger of suicide.

Four prisoners at Guantanamo, which currently holds 255 men suspected of links to the Taliban or al-Qaida, have killed themselves since the military offshore prison opened in January 2002.

Tribunal misgivings drive Gitmo prosecutor to quit

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...anamo-tribunaloct12,0,2724254.story?track=rss

By Josh Meyer | Tribune Newspapers
2:18 AM CDT, October 12, 2008

WASHINGTON — Darrel Vandeveld was in despair. The hard-nosed lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve had lost faith in the Guantanamo Bay war crimes tribunals in which he was one of the prosecutors.

His work was top secret, making it impossible to talk to family or friends. So the devout Catholic — working away from home—contacted a priest via the Internet.

"I am beginning to have grave misgivings about what I am doing, and what we are doing as a country," Vandeveld wrote in an August e-mail. "I no longer want to participate in the system, but I lack the courage to quit. I am married, with children, and not only will they suffer, I'll lose a lot of friends."

He even reached out for advice from his opposing counsel, a military defense lawyer.

"How do I get myself out of this office?" Vandeveld asked Air Force Maj. David Frakt, who was representing the young Afghan Vandeveld had been ordered to prosecute for an attack on U.S. soldiers — despite his doubts about whether Mohammed Jawad would get a fair trial.

Last month, Vandeveld resigned from active duty, becoming at least the fourth prosecutor to quit under protest. Their assertions raise fundamental questions about the fairness of the war crimes tribunals from the very people charged with implementing them, according to legal experts, human-rights observers and some current and former military officials.

In a declaration and subsequent testimony, Vandeveld said the U.S. government is not providing defense lawyers with the evidence that it has against their clients, including exculpatory information—material that is considered helpful to the defense.

Vandeveld testified that he went from being a "true believer to someone who felt truly deceived [by the tribunals]."

Army Col. Lawrence Morris, the chief prosecutor and Vandeveld's boss, said the Office of Military Commissions provides the defense "every scrap of paper and information." Vandeveld, he said, simply was disgruntled because his commanding officers disagreed with some of his legal tactics.

"I care not for myself; our enemies deserve nothing less than what we would expect from them were the situations reversed," Vandeveld said. "More than anything, I hope we can rediscover some of our American values." Some tribunal defense lawyers are preparing to call Vandeveld as a witness, saying his claims of systemic problems at Guantanamo, if true, could alter the outcome of every pending case there.

Vandeveld, now 48, once lived a relatively placid life outside Erie, Pa., with his wife and four children. He worked as a senior deputy state attorney general in charge of consumer protection in the region.

Called to active duty after the Sept. 11 attacks, Vandeveld received outstanding evaluations as a Pentagon legal adviser and judge advocate in Bosnia, the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq.

"One of the Corps' best and brightest," his commanding officer, Gen. Charles Barr, wrote in Vandeveld's June 2006 evaluation. "Save the very toughest jobs in the Corps for him."

From his Iraq assignment, Vandeveld went to Guantanamo, where he began locking horns over the Jawad case with Frakt.

Frakt believed that his client was, at worst, a confused Afghan teen of about 16 who had been brainwashed and drugged by militant extremists who coerced him into participating in a grenade-throwing incident with other older — and guiltier —men.

Vandeveld told the L.A. Times he kept finding information that appeared to bolster Frakt's claims that evidence was being withheld — including some favorable to the defense, such as information suggesting that Jawad was underage, that he was drugged before the incident and abused by U.S. forces afterward.

With Frakt pressing for the charges to be dismissed due to "outrageous government misconduct," Vandeveld proposed a plea agreement in which Jawad, now thought to be 22, could return to Afghanistan and get rehabilitation. But his superiors rejected it, Vandeveld said.

By late August, he had told Frakt that there were other "disquieting" things about Guantanamo and that his superiors were refusing to address them or to let him quietly transfer out, Frakt said.

"Now might be a good time to take a courageous stand and expose some of the 'disquieting' things that you have alluded to, whatever they may be," Frakt replied in a Sept. 2 e-mail.

Morris and other Pentagon officials say Vandeveld is not qualified to speak to systemwide problems at Guantanamo. But Frakt says he is, and that Vandeveld's declaration only scratches the surface of his concerns, according to their extensive conversations and hundreds of e-mail exchanges.

"There is a lot more that he knows," Frakt said.

9/11 suspects get laptop, no Net

http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4105

Posted by Richard Koman @ October 13, 2008 @ 10:53 AM

Al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheik Mohammed gets a laptop and 12 hours of battery time a day, but no Internet. That’s what a military judge ruled last week, according to the Miami Herald.

The issue in the 9/11 trail of Mohammed and his coconspirators is what resources they should get to defend themselves from their cells in Gitmo’s Camp Justice. They should have “reasonable access” to legal resources, Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann ruled.

The defendants had asked for a long list of Internet sites and legal databases. Ammar al Baluchi asked for a DVD writer, PowerPoint software, printers, a scanner and a hot line to the Pentagon’s defense counsel’s office.

Prosecutors volunteered to give the Toughbooks loaded with the government’s evidence and eight hours of battery a day. Kohlmann upped the battery time to 12 hours but ruled out phone link or live access to the Web.

The alleged terrorists’ US-based lawyers can download material and deliver via storage devices, providing “a broad range of news and Internet research sources applicable to the defense in this case.”

But first: government censors would review — and blackout material off-limits for ”operational or privacy concerns.”

9/11 kin to watch terror trial at Guantánamo, by lottery
Five relatives of Sept. 11 victims will be able to attend a hearing for an alleged al Qaeda kingpin in December.

http://www.miamiherald.com/1218/story/742841.html

BY CAROL ROSENBERG
[email protected]
10/27/2008

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- With the war court's future uncertain, the Pentagon has made plans to bring victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks -- chosen by lottery -- to watch a hearing of reputed al Qaeda kingpin Khalid Sheik Mohammed's death penalty trial.

Five will be chosen. In an Oct. 20 letter, the chief war crimes prosecutor invited relatives of those killed on 9/11 to submit names to watch a military commissions hearing Dec. 8, during the closing days of President Bush's administration, which has championed the tribunals.

Scheduled that day is a hearing in the case of Mohammed and four other former CIA-held captives accused of conspiring to train, finance and orchestrate the hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people in the 2001 attacks.

Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, who has for years helped steer Bush administration detainee policy, issued an endorsement of the plan to airlift family members of those killed in the attacks to this remote U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba.

"Soon, some of those victim families will have the opportunity to see firsthand the fair, open and just trials of those alleged to have perpetrated these horrific acts," England said.

A former military prosecutor has testified that England had discussed with Pentagon lawyers the "strategic political value" of charging some prized Guantánamo detainees before the 2006 congressional elections.

But Pentagon officials attributed the Dec. 8 timing to finally implementing a long-promised victims witness program, which will enable thousands of family members of the Sept. 11 dead to watch the eventual trial through satellite feeds to four U.S. military bases.

No trial date has been set.

Meantime, the United States is proceeding this week with its second ever terror trial. Ali Hamza al Bahlul, about 38, is accused of recruiting jihadists while working as an al Qaeda media secretary and propagandist in Afghanistan. He faces a maximum life in prison.

SENTENCE APPEALED
Like the first man tried, Osama bin Laden's driver, Salim Hamdan, 40, Bahlul is from Yemen. Hamdan's military jury sentenced him to spend the rest of the year in prison, a ruling the Pentagon's prosecutor is appealing.

The prosecutor is starting the victims program by permitting five 9/11 family members to observe proceedings as the five alleged terrorists and their legal counsel argue about what law and evidence might be used at trial.

The Defense Department notified kin of the 9/11 dead through letters and postings on electronic message boards offering a chance to visit this outpost for up to a week, at Pentagon expense. Thousands are eligible to apply. They include the parents, children, spouses or siblings of those killed in New York, at the Pentagon and in a Pennsylvania field.

Yet, the future of the war court itself is uncertain.

Both Democratic and Republican presidential candidates have pledged to close the prison camps at Guantánamo.

Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain has said through his campaign that he would keep the war court he helped establish through the 2006 Military Commissions Act but might move the trials themselves to U.S. soil.

Illinois Democratic Sen. Barack Obama advocates trying alleged terrorists in traditional U.S. courts, not the special post-9/11 justice system that has been a keystone of the Bush administration's controversial detention policy.

One person who applied to the Guantánamo visitors program is Queens, N.Y., antiwar activist Adele Welty, whose firefighter son, Tim, was killed at the World Trade Center.

He is listed as victim No. 2653 on the conspiracy charge, which lists the names of 2,973 Sept. 11 dead.

Pentagon prosecutors seek the death penalty for the five alleged co-conspirators. But Welty is concerned that her politics might exclude her from eligibility, especially since, she said, Pentagon prosecutors had her fill out a form that asked her position on capital punishment.

She testified against executing alleged 9/11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui during the penalty phase of his 2006 trial. ``I feel that if we're going to kill people, we're no different than the terrorists."

WARNING LETTER
And she took part in a January 2007 protest against Guantánamo detention policies on the Castro side of Cuba, which got her a warning letter from the U.S. government.

But she wants to see a portion of the trial firsthand because she's heard about the secrecy of the military commission system.

"He still needs to have a fair trial," Welty said, ``not because of who he is, but because of what kind of a country we want to be."

The chief war crimes prosecutor, Army Col. Lawrence Morris, said someone's opinion on the death penalty would have no bearing on the lottery. Rather, he said, 9/11 family members were asked to voluntarily fill out "Victim Impact Questionnaires" as an information-gathering tool.