Look, you guys get me out of Gitmo. I'll take care of Yemen.
-- Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemen national, to defense attorney Charles D. Swift, as they prepared for his trial before a military commission at Guantánamo. Last week he received a 5-1/2-year sentence following conviction on 1 count of material support for terrorism. With credit for time served, Hamdan's sentence likely will end about the same time that the person elected this November assumes the U.S. Presidency early next year. It will be up to the new administration to decide whether Hamdan will be released or will endure further "enemy combatant" custody -- an option to which the current administration lays claim. (credit for sketch of Hamdan, left, and Swift (then a Navy officer, now at Emory Law School), during 2004 hearing)
