Osama bin Laden's Driver Released from Guantanamo Bay Prison

Salim Hamdan, a native of Yemen, once served as the personal driver of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and was painted by the U.S. military as being a hardened war criminal and enemy combatant. In a trial in August, Hamdan was convicted of aiding the global terror network and was eventually sentenced to 5 and 1/2 years in prison for his crimes. He was ultimately credited for time served of 5 years and will be transferred to Yemen to serve out the brief remainder of his sentence. Hamdan will be released from a Yemeni prison in January and will once again be a free man.

The verdict in this case is being viewed as a message to the U.S. military prosecutors who sought a sentence of 30 years to life for bin Laden's former driver. He was acquitted by a jury of military officers of providing missiles to al-Qaida and other sentencing recommendations made by the prosecution were ignored.

A spokesman for the Yemeni embassy in Washington, DC noted that his country was pleased with the verdict and the announcement of Hamdan's transfer back to Yemen. He told the New York Times, "We hope that this will be a positive first step to the transfer of the remaining detainees."

Guantanamo Bay represented one of the last remaining pillars of the support that the Bush administration enjoyed in the months and early years after 9/11. While the military prison was controversial, many Americans felt that it was worth the potential public relations damage if some of the prisoners were providing valuable intelligence to the U.S. military. Specifically, it was believed that interrogations might lead to the location of Osama bin Laden and information about future al-Qaida terrorist attacks that may have been planned.