War Crimes

The U.N. backed tribunal for the Khmer Rouge included war crimes on the indictment for the notorious prison leader, Kaing Guek Eav, or “Duch.”

Duch, who faces charges for crimes against humanity, had war crimes added to his list of charges stemming from atrocities during the reign of the regime from 1975 to 1979.

Five senior members of the Khmer Rouge were arrested in 2007 and charged with a variety of atrocities, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. It’s estimated than nearly 2 million people died in a quasi-eugenics campaign backed by the Khmer Regime to form an ultra-communist agrarian utopia through forced labor camps.

Duch, a former math teacher, led the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, or S-21, where more than 14,000 people were tortured under his strict authority.

His trial is expected to begin in September.

As everyone reading this almost certainly knows, Russia invaded Georgia on Friday in support of separatists in the breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia - the locations of the so-called “frozen conflicts.”

Pravda accuses the President of Georgia, Mikhal Saakashvili, of “war crimes against humanity” as a result of Georgia’s attempts to pacify South Ossetia, while Saakashvili asserts Georgia was forced into war and plans to bring charges against Russia for war crimes at the ICC.

Human Rights Watch and other NGOs have called for both sides to carefully discriminate between combatants and non-combatants, but reporting indicates that civilians on both sides have been killed and more forced to flee their homes.

This morning, CNN reported that Russia had ordered a cessation of hostilities, but Georgia alleges the Russian offensive is ongoing. Hopefully a ceasefire will be confirmed shortly.

The jury in the U.S. war crimes trial of Salim Hamdan delivered a sentence Thursday of 5 ½ years in prison for providing material support to al-Qaida.  With time served, the sentence amounts to slightly less than 5 months in jail.

The Pentagon had sought a 30-year term for the former driver of Osama bin Laden, but the Defense Department may continue his detention in perpetuity as a so-called enemy combatant in the “war on terror.”

“I hope the day comes,” said judge Navy Capt. Keith Allred, “when you return to your wife and your daughters and your country, Inshallah.”

The jury of military officers Wednesday found Hamdan guilty of providing material support to al-Qaida.  Though not considered a war crime outside of the United States, Congress in 2006, as a result of Hamdan’s case before the U.S. Supreme Court, amended military code to include such a charge.

Though Hamdan remains classified as an “enemy combatant,” that status is reviewed on a yearly basis and the 37-year-old Yemeni national could walk free before the end of the Bush administration.

The court at the U.S. naval detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Wednesday found Salim Hamdan, the personal driver for Osama bin Laden, guilty of supporting terrorism, though it acquitted him of conspiring with al-Qaida, Jane Sutton reported for Reuters.

In the first U.S. war crimes trial since World War II, the Bush administration – in its third attempt to do so – won its conviction after nearly seven years.  Hamdan was convicted of providing personal services to a known terrorist organization.  Following appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. government dropped and refilled the charges twice before.

Hamdan was cleared of two counts of conspiring with al-Qaida to attack non-military personnel, destroy property and commit murder in violation of the laws of war.  These were the only charges filed against Hamdan in the first attempt to bring him before the court.

“The travesty of this verdict now is that had the case gone to trial in 2004 he would have been acquitted of all the charges,” said Deputy Chief Defense Counsel Michael Berrigan.

The judge in the case, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, said several of the charges amounted to identical counts and ordered the court to sentence him to the one count, which he equated to “driving Mr. bin Laden around Afghanistan.”

First, the Times of London is reporting that the United Kingdom cut a deal with radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, which resulted in British forces sitting out the critical battle for Basra last year. The Times reports that the attack has caused some friction between the US and the UK and dented Britain’s relationship on the ground in Iraq.

Second, the Wall Street Journal reports that Al-Sadr will be disarming his radical Mahdi Army.

Meanwhile, the Long War Journal dissects the methods that have allowed the US to achieve a significant decrease in insurgent IED attacks.

Prosecutors Tuesday raised the possibility of declaring a mistrial for the first war crimes trail at Guantanamo Bay for Salim Hamdan, the personal driver for al-Qaida chief, Osama bin Laden, a report said.

The disagreement came in distinguishing war crimes from regular crimes. Hamdan faces conspiracy charges for ferrying two surface-to-air missiles in the trunk of his car that prosecutors say were to be used against U.S. forces in Afghanistan in November 2001.  But if those charges are tantamount to war crimes, prosecutors must find the missiles were intended for targets other than uniformed military soldiers. 

Government lawyers have released no evidence suggesting the missiles were intended for anything other than attacks on U.S. soldiers.  Prosecutors in the case want the military judge in the case, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, to tell jurors, however, that conspiracy to commit hostilities against military forces by “unlawful enemy combatants” is a war crime.

The defense argues that considering conspiracy a war crime was not on the books when Hamdan was captured.  Congress amended the Uniform Code of Military Justice to include that charge, but it is not retroactive to 2001.

Hamdan’s counsel, Joe McMillian, says if the law does apply retroactively, the United States broke its own laws by supporting mujahedin in Afghanistan following the Soviet invasion.

“Maybe we got it wrong this time,” Allred said. “I don’t know that that would be grounds for a mistrial.”

Prosecutors for the U.S. government Monday tried to paint Yemeni Salim Hamdan, the former driver for Osama bin Laden, as an enabler for the head of al-Qaida, a report said.

His defense team, however, - as well as those who knew him, including alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammad, - said Hamdan was a low-level laborer, claiming “changing lug nuts and oil filters” hardly amount to war crimes.

Hamdan was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001 with two missiles in the trunk of his vehicle and an AK-47. If convicted of conspiracy to support al-Qaida, a war crime under U.S. military code, he could receive a life sentence. Additionally, if Hamdan is sentenced to a longer term than the 9-month sentence for David Hicks, an Australian who trained with al-Qaida fighters, the entire tribunal system may come into question yet again.

If he is acquitted, however, or sentenced to a term less than the six years he has spent at Gauntanamo Bay, the United States could continue his detention as an “unlawful enemy combatant” indefinitely, or until the so-called war on terror comes to an end. 

Government lawyers say Hamdan’s role in the al-Qaida infrastructure was as the last line of defense for the terrorist leader.  Defense officials countered that Hamdan, however, was largely cooperative with his captors and took U.S. forces on a guided tour of al-Qaida safe havens throughout Afghanistan, adding his role was that of a servant and not an accomplice.

“Hitler’s driver was never charged with a war crime and it doesn’t work that way today,” defense lawyer Joseph McMillan said.

The Times reports that the Pakistani Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), a powerful intelligence service which fueled the Taliban’s rise to power, aided a terrorist bombing at the Indian Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan last month. The bombing killed 54 people, one of whom was an Indian diplomat.

In part because of the historical connection between the Taliban and ISI; in part because of the relative autonomy enjoyed by Taliban-affiliated militants in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas; in part because of the AQ Khan situation; in part because of polls showing Bin Laden’s high popularity in Pakistan; and in part because of statements made by Pakistani government officials, there have always been concerns about Pakistan’s reliability as an ally in the fight against terrorism.

Worse yet, the public revelation comes on the heels of skirmishes between the Pakistani and Indian militaries in Kashmir. Increased tension will make a difficult diplomatic situation far, far more dangerous.

Perhaps worst, the Times reports that the CIA concluded that ISI was involved based on a wide variety of communications between ISI and Taliban-affiliated terrorist groups. The actual damage ISI is doing to the American campaign in Afghanistan - in compromised agents, compromised operations, and false or compromised intelligence - will probably be unknown for some time.

Finally, as the Times notes, the attack re-raises questions about who is in control of Pakistan’s intelligence and security apparatuses. The domestic political ramifications, at this point, are as unclear as the implications for Pakistan’s bilateral relations with the United States and India, or the American campaign in Aghanistan and West Pakistan.

The defense rested for the first war crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay concerning the driver for Osama bin Laden, Salim Hamdan.

The U.S. government charges Hamdan with collaborating with al-Qaida during its zenith prior to the Sept. 11 attacks. He stands accused of providing material support to a terrorist organization, namely al-Qaida.  He is also alleged to have received weapons training in Afghanistan and transported “one or more SA-7 surface-to-air missiles” to be used against American forces.

Hamdan admits to serving as bin Laden’s driver, but denies working for al-Qaida.

Defense lawyers produced written statements from self-professed Sept-11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed who said Hamdan was more of a mechanic than a mission executor.

Karadzic had his first appearance before ICTY today. Aside from asserting irregularities in his arrest, Karadzic reiterated allegations - published last year - that American diplomat (and chief architect of the Dayton accords) Richard Holbrooke had cut a deal with him to give him money and security in return for his forgoing participation in Bosnian Serb politics.

Holbrooke, for his part, gave an interview with Foreign Policy last week where he argued that it was the NATO command’s fault Karadzic hadn’t been captured immediately. He has consistently denied that there was any deal between him and Karadzic to let the genocidaire escape.