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Osama bin Laden’s alleged bodyguard and chauffeur today becomes Guantanamo Bay’s first terror suspect brought before a US military commission that allows for secret evidence and no government appeals.
Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a 34-year-old Yemeni, has said he earned a pittance for his family by driving al-Qaida’s leader before the September 11 attacks, but denies supporting terrorism.
“This process goes against everything that we fought for in the history of the United States,” said Lt Cmdr Charlie Swift, Hamdan’s lawyer who is likely to challenge the government’s classification of Hamdan as an enemy combatant.
Depending upon what Swift has up his sleeve or what surprises the prosecutors hold at the pre-trial hearing today, Hamdan could choose not to enter a plea and his lawyer could ask for more time to prepare. It is also possible Swift will question whether the five-member commission panel’s presiding officer, US Army Col Peter Brownback, has the capacity to judge the proceedings fairly.
The Pentagon, in a charge sheet, alleged Hamdan, also known as Saqr al Jaddawi, was a bodyguard and personal driver for bin Laden between February 1996 and November 24, 2001.
The Pentagon also said he transported weapons to al-Qaida operatives, trained at an al-Qaida camp and drove in convoys that carried bin Laden. It does not say he took part in any specific acts of violence or participated in the operational planning of any attacks.
Among the thousands of undocumented immigrants streaming into Arizona from Mexico each week, the U.S. Border Patrol has yet to discover a known terrorist.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security likewise have failed to detect a single al-Qaeda operative who infiltrated the United States via its southern boundary.
Yet, counterterrorism experts concede that the threat is real.
Which leaves average folks wondering: Is al-Qaeda knocking on our back door?
That question was raised last week when U.S. news outlets trumpeted FBI alerts about one of Osama bin Laden's suspected lieutenants, Adnan El Shukrijumah. The bulletin to border watchers was based on intelligence that Shukrijumah was seen in Honduras months ago and might travel through Mexico on a U.S. terrorist mission.
FBI spokeswoman Susan Herskovits said the sighting was never confirmed and there is no evidence Shukrijumah had any such plan.
In fact, the intelligence picture is fuzzy all over. No one knows if any terrorists have slipped in from Mexico undetected. Nor can anyone predict whether they will. (Related story: Agents say they lack tools to stop terrorists)
Among law enforcement officials, the consensus seems to be that al-Qaeda has found safer, easier routes into the United States, using forged documents or valid visas.
"These people are meticulous," said Col. Norm Beasley, who oversees counterterrorism efforts with the Arizona Department of Public Safety. "They do not like leaving anything to chance. ... And there is a tremendous effort at the federal level to really watch for those (undocumented immigrants) who are non-Hispanic. ...
"I'm concerned about the Mexican border. But from a pure terrorism issue, I'm more concerned about the Canadian border."
The lightly patrolled northern line has been terrorist-free since 1999, when a U.S. Customs agent stopped Algerian immigrant Ahmed Ressam as he tried to enter Washington state with a carload of explosives. (Ressam, serving a 27-year sentence, admitted al-Qaeda ties in his planned attack on Los Angeles International Airport.)
Andy Adame, a spokesman for the Border Patrol, noted that every captured immigrant is questioned at length, and the Tucson Sector's 2,100 agents are trained to spot non-Mexicans. Those who fall under suspicion are turned over to the FBI for questioning.
al-Qaeda operatives would stand out in northern Mexico so much that even smugglers who transport border crossers would shun them.
"When you talk terrorists, I think the smuggler realizes there are no boundaries," Adame said. "Sitting in Mexico, he's still not safe."
Still, a Border Patrol report on "other-than-Mexican" immigrants detained from October 2003 to July 2004 shows a trickle of illegal crossers from nations with known populations of Islamic terrorists: five from Iraq, 19 from Pakistan, six from Saudi Arabia.
Critics say al-Qaeda insurgents could be among them. However, a review of media reports on the LexisNexis database shows only a few terrorist-related arrests with Mexican implications.
Steve Emerson, a radical-Islam researcher and author of American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us, says Mexico could become a conduit even if it hasn't been to date.
"Is there known evidence of al-Qaeda operatives arrested on the border? I don't think so," he said. "But any point of entry is a potential route for the bad guys."
The issue is particularly hot with Republican politicians and conservative groups seeking to close the door on Hispanic immigration.
But, says Robin Hoover, president of Tucson-based Humane Borders, which sets up water stations to prevent illegal crossers from dying of thirst, "I think it's election-year politics. All we hear is rumor, hearsay. Fear does sell."