U.S. Charges Bin Laden’s Chauffeur
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – Osama bin Laden’s chauffeur was formally charged yesterday in the first American military tribunal since World War II, appearing at a pretrial hearing where his lawyer challenged the process as unfair.
Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a 34-year-old Yemeni, wore headphones to hear an interpreter. He asked for the allegations against him to be repeated, then appeared to chuckle and smile after the charges of conspiracy as an Al Qaeda member to commit war crimes, including murder, were explained a second time.
Mr. Hamdan has said he earned a pittance for his family as Osama bin Laden’s driver before the September 11 attacks and denies taking part in terrorist activities. American officials allege he served as the Al Qaeda leader’s bodyguard and delivered weapons to his operatives. The Pentagon alleges that Mr. Hamdan – also known as Saqr al Jaddawi – was Mr. bin Laden’s driver and bodyguard between February 1996 and November 24, 2001.
It says he transported weapons to Al Qaeda operatives, trained at an Al Qaeda camp, and drove in convoys that carried Mr. bin Laden. The charge sheet does not accuse him in any specific acts of violence or the operational planning of any attacks.
The detainee also smiled as he first appeared in the court, without handcuffs or shackles and wearing a flowing white robe and a tan suit jacket with a long shawl.
Mr. Hamdan was the first detainee to appear before an American military commission that allows for secret evidence and no federal appeals, the first such proceeding since World War II.
“This process goes against everything we fought for in the history of the United States,” Mr. Hamdan’s attorney Lieutenant Commander Charlie Swift said earlier this week, challenging the government’s classification of his client as an “enemy combatant.”
Lieutenant Swift said he plans to ask that charges be dismissed, because Mr. Hamdan was given no opportunity to contest his “enemy combatant” classification in American civilian courts – an opportunity he says the Department of Justice promised him. Lieutenant Swift also has filed a lawsuit in civilian courts, alleging that the military commissions violate American and international law.
“Mr. Hamdan has languished in solitary confinement without good cause for more than eight months awaiting a hearing,” Lieutenant Swift said in his statement.
In the hearing, he began questioning panel members’ qualifications and practices, as well as their views on Islam and military operations against Al Qaeda and the ousted Taliban of Afghanistan. He started by asking the commission’s presiding officer, U.S. Army Colonel Peter Brownback, a retired military judge, to explain why he was serving in the tribunal.
“I thought I was good at it, and knowing the stresses and constraints brought on our military…I volunteered,” Lieutenant Brownback answered.
Lieutenant Swift says his client was a pilgrim who took a job at Mr. bin Laden’s farm on his way to Tajikistan in 1996 or 1997. He says Mr. Hamdan had no knowledge of Mr. bin Laden’s terror activities and never took up arms against America. The case is to be heard in Washington, D.C. According to unsealed court documents, Mr. Hamdan complained he was “going crazy” after being held in solitary confinement.