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2008-08-07 Home Front: WoT

Bin Laden driver to seek leniency from Gitmo jury

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Posted by tu3031 2008-08-07 09:18|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top

#1 GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - Salim Hamdan pleaded with a military jury to spare him from a life in prison, apologizing Thursday for the "innocent people" who died in the Sept. 11 attacks and saying he worked as Osama bin Laden's driver only because he needed a job.

Military prosecutors asked for a sentence of no less than 30 years, asking the Pentagon-appointed jury to make an example of him. The five men and one woman began their deliberations Thursday afternoon in the yellow courthouse overlooking an abandoned airport runway.

"It's true there are work opportunities in Yemen, but not at the level I needed after I got married and not to the level of ambitions that I had in my future," he said, reading in Arabic from a prepared statement. Hamdan expressed regret over the "innocent people" who died, according to a Pentagon transcript. His apology couldn't be heard by reporters because the sound was turned off during part of the proceedings to protect classified information. "I personally present my apologies to them if anything that I did has caused them pain," Hamdan said.

He also said he didn't know bin Laden was a terrorist when he took the job, saying it came as "a big shock" when he learned the al-Qaida leader was responsible for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.

Shocked! Shocked, I tells ya!!

Posted by tu3031 2008-08-07 15:24|| 2008-08-07 15:24|| Front Page Top

#2 On accounta Yemen's such a big place nobody knew the prominent bin Laden clan that made their money in the Saudi kingdom. Or the son who was so vocal in his Yemeni dislike of the desert princes ...

Posted by lotp 2008-08-07 15:43|| 2008-08-07 15:43|| Front Page Top

#3 Gitmo jury gives bin Laden driver 5 1/2 years

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - A military jury has sentenced Osama bin Laden's former driver to 5 1/2 years in prison for aiding terrorism, making him eligible for release in just six months. Salim Hamdan was acquitted of conspiracy in the first Guantanamo war crimes trial.

Posted by tu3031 2008-08-07 16:08|| 2008-08-07 16:08|| Front Page Top

#4 6 months means that the big O can't release him and grandstand to great international applause.

Posted by lotp 2008-08-07 17:18|| 2008-08-07 17:18|| Front Page Top

#5 Hamdan was not judged by a jury of his peers and he received no Miranda warning about his rights.

"Damn, I got jury duty!" - Osama

Posted by Pappy 2008-08-07 22:06|| 2008-08-07 22:06|| Front Page Top

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