Guantanamo case of Bin Laden driver Hamdan goes to military jury

In closing arguments, a defense attorney, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, made a surprising disclosure, suggesting that Hamdan had offered to help U.S. forces in a significant way but that "we squandered that opportunity."

Mizer said he was referring to secret testimony given Thursday by Army Special Forces Col. Morgan Banks III, who encountered Hamdan shortly after his Nov. 24, 2001, capture at a roadblock in Afghanistan.

The military judge, Navy Capt. Keith J. Allred, warned Mizer not to stray into classified territory, but the lawyer was allowed to remind jurors to "look at the information Mr. Hamdan provided to the United States when it mattered most."

"You know what Mr. Hamdan had agreed to do and you know how we squandered that opportunity," Mizer told the court, stirring speculation that the defendant, who was Osama bin Laden's driver, might have offered to lead U.S. forces to an Al Qaeda hide-out.

At the time Hamdan was in U.S. custody at Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda hierarchy were thought to be holed up in the remote mountain area of Tora Bora on the Afghan- Pakistani border.

Prosecutor John Murphy of the Justice Department urged the military jury to disregard defense claims that Hamdan's cooperation with his captors should have any bearing on their verdict.

Hamdan knew he was working for a terrorist organization and stayed in Bin Laden's employ despite Al Qaeda's targeting of U.S. troops and civilians, Murphy said.

The prosecutor detailed allegations that Hamdan delivered weapons to Al Qaeda and Taliban forces, shuttled Bin Laden and other top plotters around their bases and training camps, and was trusted with guns and radios in the Al Qaeda leader's presence, suggesting he was more than a $200-a-month hired hand.

"The leader of Al Qaeda himself hosted a wedding feast for the accused. This shows just how close he was to the very top of this terrorist conspiracy," Murphy said.

"This was textbook, classic, model behavior for material support," the prosecutor said in his hourlong closing, calling on the jury to convict on all 10 counts of conspiracy and material support to terrorism.