Prosecutors Tuesday raised the possibility of declaring a mistrial for the first war crimes trail at Guantanamo Bay for Salim Hamdan, the personal driver for al-Qaida chief, Osama bin Laden, a report said.
The disagreement came in distinguishing war crimes from regular crimes. Hamdan faces conspiracy charges for ferrying two surface-to-air missiles in the trunk of his car that prosecutors say were to be used against U.S. forces in Afghanistan in November 2001. But if those charges are tantamount to war crimes, prosecutors must find the missiles were intended for targets other than uniformed military soldiers.
Government lawyers have released no evidence suggesting the missiles were intended for anything other than attacks on U.S. soldiers. Prosecutors in the case want the military judge in the case, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, to tell jurors, however, that conspiracy to commit hostilities against military forces by “unlawful enemy combatants” is a war crime.
The defense argues that considering conspiracy a war crime was not on the books when Hamdan was captured. Congress amended the Uniform Code of Military Justice to include that charge, but it is not retroactive to 2001.
Hamdan's counsel, Joe McMillian, says if the law does apply retroactively, the United States broke its own laws by supporting mujahedin in Afghanistan following the Soviet invasion.
“Maybe we got it wrong this time,” Allred said. “I don't know that that would be grounds for a mistrial.”
