Analysis: New DOJ tactics in al-Marri case
By P. Mitchell Prothero
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
WASHINGTON, June 24 (UPI) -- The Department of Justice has waded into new territory.

The decision by President Bush to designate alleged al-Qaida operative Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri as an enemy combatant was intended to pressure his cooperation with investigators tracking al-Qaida operations in the United States, according to a Justice Department official.

Al-Marri - who had been facing federal indictments for lying to investigators and various fraud charges - was designated an enemy combatant and transferred to a Navy facility in South Carolina, the Justice Department announced Monday.

Although the official explanation for the new designation -? which means al-Marri can be held indefinitely without access to counsel -? said that his status was changed based on information gleaned from interrogations of accused al-Qaida official Khalid Sheik Mohammed, a Justice Department official told United Press International that the actual reason for the change in status was to pressure him to cooperate.

"If the guy says 'Even if you give me 30 years in jail, I'll never help you,'" the offical said. "Then you can always threaten him with indefinite custody incommunicado from his family or attorneys."

"This represents a new admission by Justice," said Frank Dunham, a defense attorney representing Zacarias Moussaoui and Yassir Hamdi, two accused al-Qaida members. Federal prosecutors have indicated they are considering moving Moussaoui - who faces multiple terrorism charges - into enemy combatant status. Hamdi, a U.S. citizen captured by the military in Afghanistan, has already been given enemy combatant status.

"From my experience, and anecdotally in talking to other defense lawyers, (prosecutors) have made this threat. But sometimes it's hard to tell if it's just a zealous assistant U.S. attorney, or the actual policy of the DOJ."

Dunham described the admission as significant because the government has generally made other arguments for being allowed to bypass the legal system in favor of a suspect's indefinite detention without legal oversight that accompanies enemy combatant status.

"This certainly undercuts the rational for the enemy combatant status designation," he said. "In front of appeals courts, they have argued that enemy combatant status prevents the horror of having corporals and sergeants having to follow Miranda warnings and chain-evidence requirements. They have also argued for the national security implications of allowing it. But never a frank admission that it offers them more leverage in plea bargains and cooperation."

Al-Marri, a 37-year-old citizen of Qatar, is the first person indicted by a federal grand jury to have been removed from the custody of a federal court into that of the military. However, he is the third person held in the United States by the military as an "enemy combatant."

According to the Department of Defense announcement of the move, "Enemy combatant status may be used to describe an individual who, under the laws and customs of war, has become a member of or associated himself with hostile enemy forces, thereby attaining the status of a belligerent."

Al-Marri was originally arrested on a material witness warrant in December 2001 because of several phone calls that investigators believe he made to Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi in the United Arab Emirates. Al-Hawsawi is believed to have supplied at least three of the Sept. 11 hijackers with funds for flight training.

Al-Marri entered the United States on a student visa on Sept. 10, 2001, and when questioned by investigators, denied ever having been in the country prior to that date.

He was later charged with lying to investigators when prosecutors claimed to have developed evidence that he had entered the country in mid-2000 and used false identification to open several bank accounts. When he was arrested, he also allegedly possessed as many as 1,000 stolen credit card numbers.

Investigators used this evidence to charge him with various fraud charges in federal court. But after interrogations of Khalid Mohammed revealed information about his alleged role in al-Qaida -? including training in an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan in 2000 and a subsequent meeting with Osama bin Laden -? and evidence of al-Qaida membership was said to have been found on his computer, the decision to classify him as an enemy combatant was made by the president.

Justice Department officials describe the process of such a classification as "collaborative," and involving officials from the intelligence services, Justice Department and Department of Defense. After the evidence is considered, the different agencies then make a presentation to the president, who makes the final decision.