After 7 Years…
…you’d think they’d have their story straight (h/t to atrios.
But prosecutor Timothy Stone, in an attempt to draw a link between Hamdan and the al Qaeda leadership in the first Guantanamo war crimes trial, told the six-member jury of U.S. military officers who will decide Hamdan’s guilt or innocence that Hamdan had inside knowledge of the 2001 attacks on the United States because he overheard a conversation between bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
“If they hadn’t shot down the fourth plane it would’ve hit the dome,” Stone, a Navy officer, said in his opening remarks.
The tribunal’s chief prosecutor, Col. Lawrence Morris, later explained that Stone was quoting Hamdan in evidence that will be presented at trial. Morris declined to say if the “dome” was a reference to the U.S. Capitol.
“Virtually no one knew the intended target, but the accused knew,” Stone said.
United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania. U.S. officials have never stated it was shot down although rumours saying that abound to this day.
And since on-line articles are often scrubbed thrown in the memory hole edited for clarity, here’s the screenshot (click the thumbnail for the big version, silly).
…adding from comments left at All Spin Zone on the same topic, I like how the other prosecutor “later explained that Stone was quoting Hamdan in evidence that will be presented at trial”.
Which brings to mind the tiger sketch in Monty Python’s “Meaning of Life”:
Ainsworth: Shut up. Now look, have you or have you not got his leg?
Rear end: Yes.
Front end: No. No no no.
Both: No no no no no no. Nope. No.
Ainsworth: Why did you say ‘yes’?
Front end: I didn’t.
Ainsworth: I’m not talking to you…
Rear end: Er… er…
Ainsworth: Right! Search the thicket.
Front end: Oh come on, I mean do we look like the sort of chaps
who’d creep into a camp at… night, steal into someone’s
tent, anaesthetise them, tissue-type them, amputate a leg and
run away with it?Ainsworth: Search the thicket!
Front end: Oh *leg*! You’re looking for a *leg*. Actually I think
there is one in there somewhere. Somebody must have abandoned
it here, knowing you were coming after it, and we stumbled
across it actually and wondered what it was… They’ll be
miles away by now and I expect we’ll have to take all the
blame.
One Response to “After 7 Years…”
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July 24th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
“The Meaning of Life”, should be required viewing for all High School social science classes. I’m amazed at how timeless the material is.
Thanks for reminding me that even in the darkest moments, a message can be gleaned through humor.