Prisoners Of War

The prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, whose case has temporarily caused the shutdown of military tribunals for suspected terrorists has admitted that he was a driver for Osama bin Laden but has denied having other ties to the Al Qaeda network, according to court papers released Tuesday. Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a 35-year-old from Yemen, said he tried to flee Afghanistan when war broke out there after Sept. 11, 2001, but was captured and shipped to the prison camp at the U.S.

The first military commission trial at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was halted Monday after a federal judge here ruled the proceedings invalid under U.S. and international law -- dealing a blow to the legal process set up by the Bush administration to handle accused terrorists. The case against Salim Ahmed Hamdan was suspended after U.S. District Judge James Robertson ruled that the Yemeni man had been denied due process.

One member of an elite Navy SEAL team was found not guilty this week of abusing Iraqi prisoners, and the case against two others was set to go to the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing today. The SEALs were part of a team working with the CIA to capture "high-value" Iraqis suspected of being terrorists and bring them to Abu Ghraib prison for interrogation.

All former American prisoners of war who have suffered from heart disease or have had a stroke will receive government healthcare benefits without having to prove the ailments were linked to their captivity, Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi said. He announced the benefits while addressing the annual convention of the American Ex-Prisoners of War, an Arlington-based group with about 21,000 members nationwide.

A Marine sergeant convicted of abusing Iraqi prisoners was sentenced Friday to 60 days' hard labor and reduced in rank to private but allowed to remain in the Marine Corps. The court-martial jury at Camp Pendleton that convicted Sgt. Gary Pittman, 40, a reservist from New York, meted out the sentencing after a hearing in which Pittman tearfully asked for leniency and expressed his love for the Marine Corps. He could have been sentenced to six months in custody and given a bad-conduct discharge.

Four Navy SEALs have been charged with abusing prisoners in Iraq, including one inmate who was beaten and later died at Abu Ghraib prison in November, the Navy said Friday. The statement did not identify the four sailors who have been charged. They are members of SEAL Team 7, a Coronado, Calif.-based counter-terrorism unit that has operated in Iraq with CIA officers.

After four hours of deliberations Thursday, a court-martial jury convicted a Marine sergeant of assault and dereliction of duty in a case of brutality toward Iraqi prisoners that led the Marine Corps to revise its rules about treatment of prisoners. Sgt. Gary Pittman, 40, a reservist from New York, faces a maximum of nine months in custody and a bad conduct discharge when the jury meets for a sentencing hearing today. Or he could remain in the corps and receive no jail time.

A Marine reservist accused of beating Iraqi prisoners last year said he treated inmates at his civilian job at a federal prison in New York the same way, a key prosecution witness testified Monday during a court-martial. John Hennagin, who retired from the Marines for medical reasons, testified during the trial of Sgt. Gary Pittman that he confronted Pittman about putting his knee in the stomachs of two Iraqis, including a local cleric.

With in-ternational criticism over the Abu Ghraib prison scandal still simmering and investigations into prisoner abuses underway, Pentagon officials on Friday announced the creation of an office to establish detainee policy and to respond to criticism by inspection groups such as the Red Cross. The Office of Detainee Affairs will be in charge of setting policy and making recommendations to Defense Secretary Donald H.

The last Vietnam War POW flying for the U.S. military has called it a career, reluctantly retiring after 44 years in uniform. Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier, who reached the Air Force's mandatory retirement age for his rank at 62, was honored at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton. Mechenbier spent six years in a Vietnamese prison after his fighter was shot down. "If we didn't have an age-limit law, Gen.