Thursday, August 07, 2008

WHY "SURPRISINGLY LIGHT"?

This is what the AP had to say about the Hamdan sentence:

Gitmo jury gives bin Laden driver 5 1/2 years
Aug 7, 5:53 PM (ET)
By MIKE MELIA

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - A U.S. military jury gave Osama bin Laden's driver a surprisingly light sentence on Thursday, making him eligible for release in just five months despite the prosecutors' request for at least a 30-year sentence to deter would-be terrorists.

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 life sentence he could have gotten for aiding terrorism by driving and guarding bin Laden. It now goes for mandatory review to a Pentagon official who can shorten the sentence but not extend it.

Just in case the wingnuts start blaming the jury, let's note who they are:
...the five-man, one-woman jury, all military officers hand-picked by the Pentagon for the first U.S. war crimes trial in a half-century.

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