Bin Laden Driver Too 'Primitive' to Be a Terrorist: 9/11 Planner

Defense rests in first Gitmo war crimes trial

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 1, 2008 2:32 PM CDT

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Bin Laden Driver Too 'Primitive' to Be a Terrorist: 9/11 Planner — In this photograph of a sketch by courtroom artist Janet Hamlin, reviewed by the U.S. Military, defendant Salim Hamdan attends his trial inside the war crimes courthouse at Camp Justice, the legal complex of the U.S. Military Commissions, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, in Cuba, Tuesday, July 22,... (AP Photo/Janet Hamlin, Pool)

Ex-Bin Laden driver Salim Hamdan's defense rested today after insulting yet possibly exonerating testimony from 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the LA Times reports. In the final testimony of Hamdan’s Guantanamo war crimes tribunal, Mohammed asserted in a written statement that Hamdan “did not play any role” in the group’s terrorist activities. "He was not a soldier, he was a driver," Mohammed wrote.

Mohammed’s contempt for Hamdan is palpable in his testimony: he describes Hamdan as a "more primitive" Bedouin “not fit to plan or execute. But he is fit to change trucks' tires, change oil filters, wash and clean cars, and fasten cargo in pickup trucks." Hamdan faces a possible life sentence. Jury deliberations begin Monday. (More Guantanamo Bay stories.)

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