The famous ‘I was only flying that plane for money’ defence (The Guantanamo farce continues)
Now, here’s a strange story for you:
Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni, faces trial in the military court at the US base in Cuba for conspiring with al-Qa’eda and providing material support for terrorism. However, his lawyers argue that he was merely driving for bin Laden to earn a salary, and never joined al-Qa’eda or knew of its attacks.
A judge, Capt Keith Allred, ruled that Hamdan could send written questions to “high-value” inmates in Guantanamo asking them to describe his work and what role, if any, he played in the organisation.
That might be the oddest case of reference seeking in the history of both job description and character witness testimony. The whole thing also sounds crazy enough to be true. Mind you, since the man’s opponent in court is the US government it is hard not to give him the benefit of the doubt. When it comes to fighting terrorism the USA hasn’t exactly proven to be a knight in shining armour, or anything even close to competent.
I have no idea when this guy was Bin Laden’s driver but I assume it was before the 9/11 attacks. Afterwards, there haven’t been all that many occasions for the Sheik to take the car out for a spin. So, if he was Bin Laden’s on the road Jeeves, he might have been unaware of what this bearded Bertie Wooster was plotting.
That he is still alive could be seen as another bit of proof for his innocence. There are not that many people around who can say, “I was merely flying that plane for Bin Laden for the money and never knew about any attack.”
Anyway, to be continued, I am sure.
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