Hamdan case sets stage for bigger trials at Guantanamo

Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden, hardly fit the profile of a major war criminal. And for him, the stakes were low. He had been held at Guantanamo Bay for six years, and Bush administration officials said they would continue to hold him, whether he was convicted or acquitted.

But this week's verdict -- a partial conviction and a light sentence -- may inject some much needed credibility into the administration's heavily criticized system of military commissions. Such a boost could help the White House reach an even more important goal: trials by year's end for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and others who are accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks or of leading Al Qaeda.

"A big part of this [Hamdan] case has been gearing up for the trials of the 'high-value detainees,' " said David B. Rivkin Jr., a Washington lawyer and Bush administration defender. "Nobody will say they are small fry. And in each of those cases, the government will be seeking the death penalty."

After years of legal missteps at Guantanamo, the administration had much riding on whether Hamdan's trial was considered fair. Contrary to widespread expectations, the military officers who served as jury and judge in Hamdan's case did not act as a rubber stamp for the Pentagon. They acquitted Hamdan of a more serious charge, conspiracy, while convicting him only of providing support to Al Qeada.

The jury gave Hamdan a sentence five months longer than the time he has been credited with serving at Guantanamo.

Even sharp critics of the administration saw some good signs in this result.

"This was a case of a fair-minded panel of military officers operating in a fundamentally unfair system," said Jennifer Daskal, a lawyer for Human Rights Watch, a Washington-based advocacy group. "The fact that the military officers performed their duties conscientiously does not make fair a system which allows the use of coerced evidence, is designed to cover up abuse and disregards basic due-process protections."

Rivkin said the outcome in this first Guantanamo trial should quiet the critics. "If this isn't enough to validate the commissions against the strident and unfair criticism, I don't what would be," he said. "This was fair, legitimate and comported with due process."