http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/07/23/prosecutor-says-hamdan-heard-bin-laden-d escribe-target-of-united-93/ July 23, 2008, 9:09 am
Prosecutor Says Hamdan Heard Bin Laden Describe Target of United 93 Posted by Dan Slater When the prosecutor delivered his opening statement in the military commission trial of Salim Hamdan - Osama bin Laden's former driver - he said he would show that Hamdan heard bin Laden describe the target of United Flight 93, the hijacked plane that crashed in a field just outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all 44 people aboard. Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Stone said bin Laden had said the plane was headed for "the dome," apparently in reference to the U.S. Capitol. (For reports on the second of the trial, click here for the WSJ <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121677375129775661.html> 's and here for the NYT <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/us/23gitmo.html?_r=1&sq=Salim%20Hamdan&st =cse&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&scp=4&adxnnlx=1216814720-xWBE4H3BB32mr/QDkjNb2Q> 's.) Hamdan1_art_400_20080723082631.jpg <http://s.wsj.net/media/Hamdan1_art_400_20080723082631.jpg> Salim Hamdan attends his trial inside the war crimes courthouse at Camp Justice, the legal complex of the U.S. Military Commissions at Guantanamo Bay, July 22, 2008. (AP Photo/Janet Hamlin, Pool) Defense lawyer Harry Schneider <http://www.perkinscoie.com/hschneider/> , reports the WSJ, responded that Hamdan was a simple laborer who neither espoused nor acted on radical beliefs, as attorneys for Hamdan have claimed all along. Hamdan, who was detained in November, 2001, is charged with conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism. He faces a potential life term if convicted. Separately, five men accused of organizing the 9/11 attacks are awaiting trial for the deaths of some 3,000 people. In addition to a government witness identified only as "Sergeant Major A," who testified that he supervised the Afghans who captured Hamdan and attended the initial interrogations, the government called FBI agent Ali Soufan, who said he interrogated Hamdan three times at Gitmo. Based on reports, there were at least two interesting parts of Soufan's testimony. First, he said he won Hamdan's confidence through such gestures as bringing him fish sandwiches from McDonald's (yes, there's a Micky D's in Guantanamo Bay, as well as a Pizza Hut and a Starbucks), sending him an automotive magazine and arranging for him to make a phone call to his wife. But another portion of Soufan's testimony, reports the NYT, underscored the differences between civilian trials and those permitted by the 2006 law that established the military commission system. When Soufan testified that Gitmo was the only place where he didn't tell people he interrogated that they had a right not to give self-incriminating statements, one of the prosecutors, John Murphy, seemed to struggle in noting for the jury why defendants elsewhere were told of rights absent at Gitmo. "All right," he asked rhetorically of Soufan, "that's a different court system than the commission system here?" [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
