Two say Hamdan had no 9/11 role
Gitmo trial gets written testimony
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — The mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks testified Friday that a fellow Guantanamo inmate was too “primitive” and uneducated to consider involving him in al- Qaida’s terrorist plots.
In a four-page transcript of his written testimony, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, once the terror network’s No. 3 leader, ridiculed Salim Hamdan’s background and supported Hamdan’s claim that he was merely a member of Osama bin Laden’s motor pool.
“He was not a soldier, he was a driver,” Mohammed said.
Attorneys for Hamdan presented Mohammed’s account as their final evidence at the first U. S. war crimes trial since World War II. A jury of six American military officers is scheduled to hear the judge’s instructions and begin deliberations Monday.
Hamdan, a Yemenite with a fourth-grade education, faces a maximum life sentence if convicted of conspiracy and supporting terrorism.
During the two-week presentation of evidence, Hamdan’s i n t e r rogators testified that he carried a pistol to protect bin Laden, had advance knowledge
of terrorist “operations” and swore an oath of loyalty to the al-Qaida chief.
But Mohammed made clear in his written testimony that he had too low an opinion of Hamdan and other “illiterate” drivers to include them in any secret planning.
“His nature was more primitive [Bedouin] person and far from civilization. He was not fit to plan or execute,” said Mohammed, who described himself as “the executive director of 9/11” in the transcript that was translated from Arabic.
Mohammed said he saw Hamdan more than 50 times, including the day in November 2001 when Hamdan was captured at a roadblock while assigned to evacuate the wives and children of al-Qaida members from southern Afghanistan to safety in Pakistan following the U. S.-led invasion.
But he said the Yemenite stayed with Osama bin Laden only for the $200-a-month salary.
“He was not with the ideology of Osama bin Laden and people like him. He was only searching for pleasure and money in this life,” he said.
Hamdan, who is in his late 30s, is one of 21 prisoners facing charges in the Bush administration’s tribunal system for prosecuting terrorism suspects at this U. S. Navy base in southeast Cuba.
Hamdan’s lawyers sought live testimony from Mohammed, who plans to represent himself at his own war crimes tribunal. But the Pakistani sent word he would not appear in court.
“He is intending to invoke self-incrimination rights and not appear,” said Harry Schneider, a civilian defense attorney for Hamdan.
Waleed bin Attash, another detainee witness, also refused to testify in court but agreed to respond in writing to questions provided by Hamdan’s attorneys. Bin Attash said he was close enough to bin Laden to know that Hamdan “was not involved in the implementation of any attack.”
Both witnesses were transferred to Guantanamo from secret CIA custody in September 2006 and face capital charges for their roles in the Sept. 11 attacks.
