US lawyers offer compromise to question 9/11 mastermind

http://www.gulfnews.com/world/U.S.A/10188471.html

AP
Published: February 10, 2008, 00:45

Guantanamo Bay: US Naval base, Cuba (Reuters) Military lawyers defending Osama Bin Laden's former driver on terrorism charges in the US war court at Guantanamo Bay have offered a compromise in their quest to interview September 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammad.

They promised not to ask Mohammad about his treatment in US custody or about the CIA's admission that it subjected him to a simulated drowning technique (waterboarding) during interrogations.

Bin Laden's former driver, Salim Ahmad Hamdan, was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001 and faces life in prison if convicted in the Guantanamo court of conspiring with Al Qaida and providing material support for terrorism. The Yemeni man said he never joined Al Qaida, had no advance knowledge of its attacks and became Bin Laden's driver in Afghanistan because he needed the salary of $200 per month. Hamdan's lawyers said Mohammad - the highest-ranking Al Qaida leader held at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba - can help their defence by telling them what role, if any, Hamdan had in the organisation.

Two captives charged
US military prosecutors have filed war crimes charges against two more Guantanamo prisoners, saying Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman Al Bahlul was an Al Qaida videographer and Ebrahim Mahmoud Al Qosi was a driver and bodyguard for Osama Bin Laden. That brings to seven the number of captives charged in the revised system of military tribunals created to try non-US citizens held at the US Navy base in Cuba.

Guantanamo initiative: Classes and movies
Seeking to ease conditions for angry and frustrated detainees, the commander of Guantanamo's prison camps has instituted language classes and a literacy programme, plans humanities courses and wants to open communal areas for men now held in isolation 22 hours a day.

Army Colonel Bruce Vargo said he hopes the changes will lead to fewer attacks on guards by the 275 prisoners suspected of links to Al Qaida and the Taliban.

Some of the best-behaved detainees now get TV night, with DVDs of movies and TV shows shown on a high-definition Sony TV.