Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

August 13, 2008

Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden?s former chauffeur, is the first to be convicted by the special military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Significantly, he wasn?t convicted of material involvement in terrorism, only of supporting al-Qaeda by being bin Laden?s driver.

He was sentenced to five and a half years in prison, and would be free in five months. However, the Pentagon has already made it known that it will continue to hold Hamdan indefinitely as an ?unlawful enemy combatant.?

The tribunal that convicted Hamdan permitted the use of hearsay testimony and evidence acquired through torture. That tribunal will continue its operations, perhaps in a different location.

Gitmo may soon be shut down, but its inmates, including Hamdan, won?t go free. It?s likely that they will be transferred to one of the five replacement camps being built in Saudi Arabia. Those camps, significantly, are being built by the Bin Laden family?s construction firm under CIA supervision.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.