En Español
Send Us Feedback
News Video

Find, view and share videos about news and entertainment from around the Web.
See Videos »
most

POPULAR

stories
most

COMMENTED

stories
most

RECENT

comments

News Alerts

The latest updates sent straight to your inbox.

Get AOL News Alerts »

Did Bin Laden's Driver Know 9/11 Target?

By MIKE MELIA
,
AP
posted: 83 DAYS 10 HOURS AGO
comments: 219
filed under: Al Qaida News, Crime News, National News
PrintShare
Text SizeAAA
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (July 22) - 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 Trial Ends With Light Sentence

Salim Hamdan - Wednesday = Aug.t 7(Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, The New York Times / AP

A military jury at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, gave Osama bin Laden's former driver a light sentence of 5 1/2 in prison Thursday for aiding al-Qaida. The sentence makes Salim Hamdan eligible for release in just five months. Prosecutors had recommended he get at least 30 years.

1 of 7PHOTOS

AOL News

X | Close
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.
The plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field as passengers overcame the hijackers.
"Virtually no one knew the intended target, but the accused knew," Stone told the jury of six U.S. military officers in his opening statement.
Hamdan is charged with conspiracy and aiding terrorism. The defense says the prisoner, a Yemeni with a fourth-grade education, was merely a driver for bin Laden and had no significant role in al-Qaida's terrorist attacks.
"The evidence is that he worked for wages, he didn't wage attacks on America," Harry Schneider, one of Hamdan's civilian defense attorneys, told the jury. "He had a job because he had to earn a living, not because he had a jihad against America."
But prosecutors say that as bin Laden's personal driver, he helped the al-Qaida leader evade U.S. retribution after the Sept. 11 attacks and transport weapons for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
To support that claim, prosecutors called as their first witness a U.S. special forces soldier who described finding two surface-to-air missiles in the car Hamdan was driving when Afghan forces captured him in November 2001.
A second American military officer, identified only as "Sgt. Maj. A.," testified that soldiers also found in Hamdan's car an al-Qaida weapons manual and a permit with an Arabic greeting that the Taliban issued to al-Qaida members to carry weapons in Afghanistan.
"You will not see evidence from the government that the accused ever fired a shot," Stone said. "But what you will see is testimony regarding the accused's role in al-Qaida, how he became a member of al-Qaida and how he helped, facilitated and provided material support for that organization."
An FBI agent who has researched the command structure of al-Qaida, Ali Soufan, testified that Hamdan reported for some duties to the head of a security unit equivalent to the U.S. Secret Service.
"The people who are around bin Laden have to be people who are looked into and trusted," he said. "They can't be bought, they are true believers in the cause."
Soufan, a native Arabic speaker, is expected to testify Wednesday about a series of interrogations he conducted with Hamdan in Guantanamo in 2002.
Hamdan faces a maximum life sentence if convicted. The trial is expected to take three to four weeks. The U.S. says it plans to prosecute about 80 prisoners at Guantanamo.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2008-07-22 15:51:28
GOOD READ?
97 votes
(219)
Sort by:

1 - 10

cfalls1310

07:40 PMJul 24 2008

Thankfully this prisoner will be judged on his actions, because of course his words are as meaningless as his life.

AVG RATING:
(0)

Acrlaw1

03:20 AMJul 24 2008

If knowledge itself is a crime, then we would all be in jail for what we know.

AVG RATING:
(0)

DonDon747

05:40 PMJul 23 2008

This war on terror is about Islam.-- the most significant is the nature of Islam. It is not peacful or tolerant, it is a violent religion that grows by force. Sept. 11 was one chapter in a 1400-year violent jihad. Genocide in the Sudan, ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, and a ton of small and large wars for Islam. Ultimately, it is not about Jews in Israel, or Orthodox Serbs in Kosovo, or Hindus in Kashmir, Buddhists in Thailand, or Maronite Catholics in Lebanon, Taoists in China, or Christians in Sudan and Nigeria, but all of us. It not about the terror atacks in Russia, India, Spain,New York, England, Kenya, but about Islam. This man is a Muslim, he belives in Allah the last day and Jihad, just like all Muslims. eHe is only a threat to America if he gets a visa.

AVG RATING:
(1)

SomsGr

05:30 PMJul 23 2008

Stand him up against a wall and give him a cigarette and a blindfold.

AVG RATING:
(0)

HBSSL

02:44 PMJul 23 2008

let this man go home to his family. he has suffered too much already. he was just a driver

AVG RATING:
(0)

Gman350z

01:25 PMJul 23 2008

4th grade eduation? That just confirms my belief that these terrorists must find the most ignorant people to hang with them so they can slowly brainwash the fools. An empty vessel is so easy to fill. Semper Fi

AVG RATING:
(0)

Gccxanax

12:09 PMJul 23 2008

OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AVG RATING:
(0)

MONROE LAW

11:33 AMJul 23 2008

Iodine pills were given out in communities near to nuclear power plants around the country. They have been provided to surrounding communities well before 9/11 as a means of slowing down absorption of radiation in the event of nuclear "mishap"

AVG RATING:
(0)

RebGalFlorida

10:14 AMJul 23 2008

Checkrdflagwavin: Gee Whiz...my sister lives only 2 miles from TMI and she never mentioned being given pills to take "just in case"! Who gave them to you? Do you think she can still get some "just in case?" Do you remember the name of the agency who passed around the pills?

AVG RATING:
(0)

SoquiliAsgaya

08:09 AMJul 23 2008

Sorry, Vash, I am wrong, I should have more patience to see. Later

AVG RATING:
(0)

1 - 10 of 219

{ JOIN the CONVERSATION }

YOU'LL BE ASKED TO REGISTER OR LOGIN BEFORE POSTING A COMMENT.

News Makers

NewsmakersBig Brown, the horse that won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, suffers a career-ending injury.1 of 8

News Makers