Bin Laden's former driver challenges interrogator's testimony at Guantanamo trial
By MIKE MELIA | Associated Press Writer 7:59 PM EDT, July 30, 2008 http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/ats-ap-guantanamo-bin-ladens-driverj ul30,0,407390.story GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) _ A former driver for Osama bin Laden denied Wednesday that he had sworn a loyalty oath to the al-Qaida leader, contradicting potentially damaging testimony from a Defense Department interrogator. Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni, testified at his war crimes trial that a nine-hour interrogation in May 2003 focused almost entirely on whether he swore an Islamic oath, or "bayat," to his boss, but he refused to discuss the topic. "I never talked to them about this issue," Hamdan told the judge through an Arabic interpreter. "I never pledged allegiance." Judge Keith Allred, a Navy captain, is evaluating whether the interrogation is tainted by coercion and therefore inadmissible as evidence at the first American war crimes trial since World War II. He said he would issue a ruling by Thursday morning. If the judge allows the jury to hear testimony of Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent Robert McFadden, it would contradict the defense lawyers' claim that Hamdan was merely a low-level bin Laden employee with no allegiance to al-Qaida. McFadden said he would testify that Hamdan acknowledged taking "an oath of allegiance to bin Laden and the cause, the cause being expelling Jews and Christians from the Arabian peninsula." Hamdan was captured at a roadblock in southern Afghanistan in November 2001 with two surface-to-air missiles in the car. He faces a maximum life sentence if convicted of conspiracy and supporting terrorism. Allred, who has dismissed other statements Hamdan made under "coercive" conditions, said he would hold this interrogation to a high standard to penalize the government for delivering hundreds of pages of prison records after court-imposed deadlines. "You're on the hot seat," Allred told prosecutors. Prosecutors said they have taken steps to prevent future delays and should not lose a vital piece of evidence as punishment. McFadden, an Arabic speaker, is the only one of nearly a dozen U.S. agents to testify at trial that the defendant swore the loyalty oath. John Murphy, a civilian prosecutor with the Justice Department, also urged the judge to accept McFadden's word over testimony from Hamdan, who often grinned on the witness stand and struggled to understand many of the questions on cross-examination. "I think we're dealing with a very manipulative accused," Murphy said. The defense team has been sifting through more than 1,000 pages of new records, some of them delivered after the start of trial, for material supporting Hamdan's allegations he was subjected to sleep deprivation, solitary confinement and sexual humiliation during more than six years at Guantanamo. Military personnel from the detention center testified he was transferred to another cell near 11 p.m. the night before McFadden's interrogation, but said the prison records did not clearly explain why. The prisoner, who is in his late 30s, said he was "very tired" during the interrogation. Hamdan agreed with McFadden that he did not complain about any mistreatment during the interrogation, but he said that was only because other agents did not respond to his complaints. "When I complain to them, they don't actually help me," he said. "To the contrary, they become worse." McFadden testified that Hamdan was at ease during the interrogation, showed no signs of sleepiness and appeared to enjoy the conversation with him and his partner, a native Arabic speaker from the FBI. Hamdan is one of 21 prisoners facing charges at Guantanamo. Military prosecutors say they are planning trials for 80 of the 265 foreign men held here on suspicion of terrorism or links to al-Qaida or the Taliban. 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