History Made Today At Guantánamo Bay

Nearly seven years after the 9/11 attacks, the driver and bodyguard for terror mastermind Osama bin Laden goes on trial today at Guantánamo Bay in the first full-scale U.S. war-crimes tribunal since the end of World War II.

The reason it has taken so long to begin formal proceedings against Salim Hamdan has less to do with his guilt -- there is little question that he is one bad dude -- than the disgrace of the Bush administration's prosecution of the so-called War on Terror.

This has been based on an unprecedented presidential power grab, included the use of torture and establishment of the military tribunal system, which is widely considered to be a legal sham designed to secure convictions, and resulted in a mere handful of prosecutions.

Hamdan, whose trial is expected to last two weeks, faces charges of "conspiracy" and "material support for terrorism" and could receive life imprisonment if convicted. But unlike a civilian court, he still would be considered an enemy combatant if acquitted and probably would not be freed.

Also unlike a civilian court, evidence obtained from "cruel" and "inhuman" interrogation methods will be admissible under certain circumstances, as is hearsay evidence.

David Hicks was to face a military trial in 2007 but pleaded guilty at a hearing before it began as part of a sweetheart deal set up by Vice President Cheney that sent him back to Australia to serve the remainder of his sentence.

Hamdan, a 40-something Yemini, was the plaintiff in the first of the three Supreme Court rulings against the Bush administration regarding the legality of trying alleged terrorists at Guantánamo through military tribunals. Despite the June 2006 ruling in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, his status hasn't changed in the last two years although his name is now all over law books and Congress restored the tribunals several months later.

In the third ruling in June, the Supremes granted Hamdan and other foreign terror suspects captured abroad the right to challenge their detention in U.S. courts. This has pushed back the opening of Hamdan's lawsuit and others against the administration.

The indictment against Hamdan alleges that he met Bin Laden in the Afghan city of Kandahar in 1996 and "ultimately became a bodyguard and personal driver" for the Al Qaeda leader.

It alleges that Hamdan received training in the use of rifles, handguns and machine guns in an AQ camp and also "delivered weapons, ammunition or other supplies to Al-Qaeda members and associates."

Hamdan was transferred in 2002 to Guantánamo -- where he has been spent much of his detention in isolation.

His lawyers called for the suspension of the trial following the Supreme Court's June decision allowing the roughly 260 Guantanamo inmates to challenge their detention, but last Thursday Judge James Robertson of the Federal District Court in Washington rejected the motion for an injunction.

In a brief ruling, Robertson said it was not up to him to stop the trial even before it started, but that the defense team was free to file an appeal in a civilian federal court after a verdict is reached in the case.

Hamdan's lawyers have already announced they would appeal and argue that Hamdan, although he served as Bin Laden's driver, is not implicated in any terrorist activity and was mistreated while in custody and subjected to sleep deprivation.

More here.