Goal of Hamdan Terrorism Trial May Be to Bolster Military Commissions
The government’s goal in the terrorism trial of the driver for Osama bin Laden may be to establish the credibility of the Guantanamo military commissions and keep them operating as a new administration takes office.
Observers told the Washington Post that it may be relatively easy to convict the driver, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, of material support for terrorism. All that is required is proof that Hamdan knew he was working for a terrorist group and that he acted to support its activity. Evidence that Hamdan transported weapons and continued to work for bin Laden after hearing of his terrorist acts is enough to support a conviction.
Jonathan Drimmer, a former war crimes prosecutor at the Justice Department, said it’s not necessary to prove that Hamdan was a high-level figure. “He is a minor player, but that absolutely does not matter legally,” he told the Post.
Law professor Stephen Saltzburg of George Washington University said the government will claim success and say the outcome “shows that there can be trials and that the process will go forward.”
He told the Post that the administration is hoping to establish the commission’s credibility in hopes that Guantanamo Bay will not be closed after the election. “Is the next president going to say, ‘I’m going to overturn those commissions, upset the appellate process’? I think the desire to move forward now is to avoid this being dismantled later.”
