February 11, 2004

bin-Laden's driver at Guantánamo

From the Miami Herald comes the news that one of the detainees at Guantánamo turns out to be none other than O.B.L.s chaufer…

A Yemeni captive at the Guantánamo Bay prison admits he was Osama bin Laden's $200-a-month driver in Afghanistan but says he was neither a member of al Qaeda nor a terrorist, his Pentagon-appointed lawyer said for the first time Tuesday.

Salim Ahmed Salim Hamdan, 34, is now held in isolation at the terrorism prison in Cuba in segregated accommodations for prisoners facing possible military tribunals, said his lawyer, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift.

“He fully admits that he was an employee of Osama bin Laden” from 1997 until the U.S. attack on Afghanistan in 2001. “But he adamantly denies that he was ever a member of al Qaeda or engaged in any terrorist attack. He worked for Osama bin Laden solely for the purpose of supporting himself and his family.”

Now why do I have a hard time believing that he wasn't a terrorist and didn't know what was happening. With all the crap bin Laden was planning, he would have screened his support staff pretty closely from not only a security angle but an ideological one as well…

Posted by DaveH at February 11, 2004 09:22 AM
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