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Al-Qaeda bagman defers entering plea
An Afghani man accused of being a bagman for al Qaeda and Taliban translator made his debut at his Military Commission today -- and deferred entering a plea until this summer, after his U.S. Army lawyer goes to Afghanistan to work on his case. Abdul Zahir appeared fit with a trim, thick black beard but said little more than ''yes'' and ''no'' during his nearly two-hour hearing before Marine Col. Robert S. Chester, the presiding officer.Zahir, about 35, allegedly was in the company of an insurgent who tossed a grenade at a convoy of Canadian journalists in Afghanistan in March 2002, amid the U.S. invasion that toppled the Taliban. A Toronto Star reporter was seriously wounded. According to his military charge sheet, Zahir allegedly joined al Qaeda in 1997, served as a courier, translator and at one point before his July 2002 capture doled out $50,000 to forces attacking U.S. troops. Zahir is the 10th man to be charged among nearly 490 captives at this offshore detention center for suspected terrorists to go before the war-crimes court that President Bush ordered created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Zahir's attorney, Army Lt. Col. Thomas Bogar, did most of the talking, as a Farsi-language interpreter translated the preliminary proceedings. In contrast to more defiant captives facing the court, Zahir stood attentively along with U.S. military and observers inside the tribunal room as the Marine colonel arrived and left in his capacity as presiding officer. Zahir also looked alternately bewildered and bemused as his attorney explored the colonel's news consuming preferences. Chester said he watched Fox TV but did not subscribe to a newspaper or news magazine. ''I watched O'Reilly Factor until it became too obnoxious. I never watched Hannity and Colmes,'' said Chester, a veteran military judge advocate general on the cusp of retirement who last year presided at a Marine murder case at Camp Pendleton, Calif. The colonel said his news viewing choices would not color his considerations as he presided over the case. Moreover, he said he was purposefully paying attention to news coverage of the commissions after a defense attorney in another case complained about remarks made by the Pentagon's chief prosecutor that described the captives at Camp Delta as ``terrorists.'' All sides agreed to a delay in the case, as well as a formal reading of the charges, until at least July, after Bogar travels to Afghanistan to interview possible witnesses in the case. A Philadelphia transactions attorney, Bogar was mobilized to reserve Army duty to defend the captive. Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-04-05 |
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