Bin Laden's driver knew 9/11 target, lawyer says

Maj. Henry Smith, who was in command of 15 U.S. soldiers and at least 600 Afghans, told the court that he had seen Hamdan at the checkpoint, where he was arrested Nov. 24, 2001. Smith testified that a man behind the wheel of a Toyota was stopped at the roadblock by local Afghans, who chased down the fleeing driver and dragged him to a local jail. Smith said in direct testimony that the man was Hamdan. But on cross-examination, Smith admitted that he didn't know what car the fleeing man had exited.

A U.S. Special Forces soldier identified only as Sgt. Maj. A conceded that he hadn't witnessed the checkpoint encounter but said that the local Afghans were thoroughly trustworthy.

Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, Hamdan's military defense lawyer, showed the senior enlisted man in Delta Force a classified military cable in which Afghanistan-based forces reported to higher-ups that two missiles had been found in a vehicle seized at the same checkpoint that day but from Arab suspects who had fought back and been killed.

One of Hamdan's interrogators, FBI Al Qaeda expert Ali Soufan, was called to the stand for what is expected to be lengthy testimony on Hamdan's relationship with Bin Laden and other Al Qaeda kingpins. While Soufan has described the driver as a follower, he has also said that Hamdan swore an oath of loyalty to Bin Laden.

One of Hamdan's civilian lawyers, Harry H. Schneider Jr., described his client as an impoverished and orphaned youth who turned a skill in mechanics into a job abroad to support his family.

"The evidence is that he worked for wages. He didn't wage attacks on America," said Schneider, who is representing Hamdan pro bono. "He had a job because he had to earn a living, not because he had a jihad against America."

Mizer has signaled that he will present testimony by some of the accused Sept. 11 suspects held here to underscore that Hamdan, who has a fourth-grade education, was a hired hand in the organization, not a committed ideologist.

The Guantanamo forum, even after the start of its first trial, remains the target of intense criticism. The head of the war crimes tribunal defense team, Army Col. Steven David, blasted the offshore judicial system at a news conference after Tuesday's testimony, pointing to the government's delay in handing over important evidence months after being ordered to by the presiding judge, Navy Capt. Keith J. Allred.

The judge has refused to allow testimony relating to the withheld evidence -- something that could benefit Hamdan, since the jurors can't be told about several reported statements and confessions.

David also said the Pentagon had denied the defense what it needed to properly defend Hamdan.

But chief prosecutor Morris defended the commissions as "the most just war crimes trial that anybody has ever seen."

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carol.williams@latimes.com