Bin Laden's Driver Convicted of Being...A Driver

He was convicted of "offering material support" by being a driver.

The Judge seems to be remarkably fair, which surprises me:

As the subsequent sentencing hearing began, the judge called Hamdan "a small player" and refused to let the government call an FBI agent to testify about retrieving bodies from the World Trade Center after the September 11 attacks.

The judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, said the testimony was irrelevant since Hamdan had been cleared of conspiring with al Qaeda to carry out any attacks.

While Hamdan was convicted on five counts of providing material support for terrorism, the judge said the charges duplicated each other and ordered that he be sentenced only for one count, which he summarized as "driving Mr. bin Laden around Afghanistan."

Matt Bors put it best.



Link to cartoonist.

Michael Hirsh notes that this verdict is a loss for Bush. Among other things, it's likely to be overturned on appeal, because the tribunals were only given authority to prosecute war crimes, and "material support" is not a war crime.

What's more, the Judge pretty much said with his instructions, and his sentencing actions, that the Bush administration's definition of terrorist is a 6 pounds of manure in a 5 pound bag.