2008 Woodie Awards
Speaking for bin Laden's driver
Charles Schmitz works as an Arabic interpreter on the case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld at Guantanamo Bay
Nick DiMarco
News | 10/1/08
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The geography professor periodically catches a flight to Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba after he's finished teaching a class. He occasionally must cancel class in advance because his work will keep him out of the country for several days.
Over the last five years, Schmitz has worked as a interpreter for Salim Ahmed Hamdan, better known as one of Osama bin Laden's drivers and one of America's first detainees related to the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon.
Hamdan's attorney, then-lieutenant commander Charles Swift first contacted Schmitz, a specialist in Yemeni culture and dialect, in December 2003. Now retired from the military, Swift is serving as a civilian lawyer for Hamdan. He found Schmitz via Human Rights Watch.
"Oh you've got to come down to Guantanamo, you've got to interpret for me. I have this Yemeni client," Schmitz said, reenacting a phone call from Swift.
At first, Schmitz said he was skeptical, calling the case a "kangaroo trial," or rather court proceedings to legitimize a predetermined conviction.
During their conversation, however, Swift said something that caught Schmitz's attention, something that would take priority in his life for the next five years.
"'We're going to take down the system,' he said to me. This is a Navy JAG guy telling me this," Schmitz said. "He kept talking and talking, and he convinced me."
After about four months, with Schmitz's help, Swift went to federal court in Seattle, defending a man who was being accused of conspiracy to commit terrorism with the element of material support, aiding in bin Laden's flight following 9/11.
"We weren't able to stop the commission…it was the first trial of all of them at Gitmo…and basically the government failed," Schmitz said.
"We admitted he drove bin Laden after 9/11 and they knew that. He never denied that, and they made it into a war crime."
Schmitz said that conspiracy is a crime of state, not a war crime. Schmitz compared the non-prosecution of Adolf Hitler's driver to Hamdan's situation.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Mike
posted 10/02/08 @ 10:18 AM EST
Wow, really?! Thats just great, we have a TU professor cancelling class to go help a terrorist! I cannot believe the statements he made especially the ones where he talks about how Hamdan is not a bad guy, I beg to differ, you arent Bin Ladens driver without knowing you are a member of a terrorist organization. (Continued…)
Chopped Liver
posted 10/02/08 @ 1:08 PM EST
Mike,
During Hamdan's trial a jury of senior military officers heard all of the prosecution and defense evidence in Hamdan's case and found him not guilty of conspiracy. (Continued…)
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