The Hamdan Sentence

On Wednesday I put up a post about the conviction of Salim Hamdan, and I boasted that he would never see the light of day again. Call it wishful thinking because we believed that he would be thrown in jail for the rest of his life. Yesterday his sentence was handed down -- time spent plus five months:

A military jury gave Osama bin Laden's driver a stunningly lenient sentence on Thursday, making him eligible for release in just five months despite the prosecutors' request for a sentence tough enough to frighten terrorists around the globe.

Salim Hamdan's sentence of 5 1/2 years, including five years and a month already served at Guantanamo Bay, fell far short of the 30 years to life that prosecutors wanted. It now goes for mandatory review to a Pentagon official who can shorten the sentence but not extend it.

It remains unclear what will happen to Hamdan once his sentence is served, since the U.S. military has said it won't release anyone who still represents a threat. The judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, said Hamdan would likely be eligible for the same administrative review process as other prisoners.

We recognize the verdict and understand that he was given a fair tribunal. We also understand that, in all reality, Hamdan is a small fish that no one really has to worry about, or so we hope. Not everyone is happy about this decision though. Andrew McCarthy is livid with it. That is to be expected given the role he has played in prosecuting terrorists (read his book Willful Blindness and you will see his frustration).

Let us hope that Salim Hamdan, if released, will go home, and stay out of this war. If not, the next time he has a run-in with us, it might prove to be fatal.

Marcie