First witness at hearing for Bin Laden's driver

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

First witness at hearing for Bin Laden's driver
06 Dec 2007 18:49:01 GMT

By David Alexander

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba, Dec 6 (Reuters)
- An Army major on Thursday offered the first testimony in
a U.S. military war crimes proceeding since the end of World
War Two, describing the capture of Osama bin Laden's former
driver in a small town in Afghanistan.

Army Maj. Henry Smith told a Guantanamo military court that
Salim Ahmed Hamdan was captured on Nov. 24, 2001, at a
checkpoint in a village near Kandahar while driving a car
carrying two SA-7 anti-aircraft rockets without the launching
mechanism.

-snip-

Smith testified that Hamdan was not wearing a uniform or
distinctive clothing that would identify him as a soldier,
which is required of lawful combatants under the laws of war.

But under questioning from Hamdan's attorney, Smith also
acknowledged some Afghan troops under his command did not
wear uniforms and they did not identify their vehicles with
military markings, except for orange panels on the roofs to
avert attack by U.S. aircraft.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N06233816.htm

[atreides1]

1. Well Then

Using Major Smiths' own definition, if any US Special Forces personnel are captured while not in uniform or with any insignia, then they too are "unlawful enemy combatants", and are not subject to protections provided by the Geneva Conventions.

[Eugene]

2. Prisoner helped bin Laden elude capture - FBI

Source: Reuters

Prisoner helped bin Laden elude capture - FBI
06 Dec 2007 21:17:50 GMT

(Adding new testimony from FBI agent)

By David Alexander

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba, Dec 6 (Reuters)
- A Guantanamo prisoner facing U.S. war crimes charges
drove Osama bin Laden when he evacuated his compound in
Afghanistan ahead of the Sept. 11 attacks, an FBI agent
testified on Thursday.

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who worked as bin Laden's $200-a-month
driver and bodyguard, also heard the al Qaeda leader say
he had expected up to 1,500 deaths in the attacks but was
pleased to learn there were many more, said FBI agent George
Crouch Jr., one of a team of FBI agents who interviewed
Hamdan at Guantanamo.

Hamdan also drove bin Laden when he evacuated his compound
in Afghanistan around the time of the 1998 bomb attacks on
the U.S. embassies in Africa, Crouch said. Those attacks
killed 224 people in Kenya and Tanzania and were blamed on
bin Laden's network.

"This was the first time that Osama bin Laden was going to
go toe-to-toe, face to face, with the United States and he
did not know what the reaction was going to be," Crouch
said he learned from his interviews with Hamdan.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N06233816.htm