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American Taliban Hearing to be Held Today

Aired July 12, 2002 - 14:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A hearing scheduled today in the case of Taliban American John Walker Lindh will focus on a journalist.

At issue the role of Robert Pelton, a freelance contributor to CNN who interviewed Lindh at a prison hospital in Afghanistan. CNN national correspondent Bob Franken now joins us from Alexandria, Virginia with the details on that -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, this is not just the story. This is the subplot and -- actually it's the sub- subplot. This is about Robert Pelton, as you pointed out, who on December 1 did the now-famous interview with John Walker Lindh, just after his capture, one that was taped and seen so many times.

And it is one that is part of a suppression hearing. The subplot is that there's a suppression hearing Monday on the John Walker Lindh trial.

Defense attorneys want to suppress the alleged confessions and statements that John Walker Lindh made under, quote, "torturous conditions on the battlefield."

Among those they want to interview is Robert Pelton, the freelance journalist who did the CNN interview. But Pelton does not want to do it.

He says that in fact, contrary to what the defense claims, he was not acting as an agent of the government, in addition to which he made a claim that was also made by CNN and various other news organizations, that if in fact he was forced to testify it would threaten to endanger -- I'm quoting from a friend of the court brief -- "threaten to endanger the physical safety of American war correspondents around the world."

So they're going to be arguing whether Pelton takes part in the preliminary hearing that begins on Monday on suppressing confession, so as I said, it's a subplot to the subplot. It's the kind of legal issue that can really make it torturous when you have a case like this.

Robert Pelton does not want to testify. As for the U.S. government position, it's really taking no position right now. The best way to characterize their briefs, Kyra, would be, "Yeah, whatever." PHILLIPS: Bob, what about this other American Taliban we were talking about just about an hour ago, Yasser Hamdi. What's the latest with his case?

FRANKEN: Well, Yasser Hamdi is the -- is the person who was arrested on the battlefield, a Saudi. He was arrested by U.S. forces and allies and was sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But he consistently claimed that he had been born in Louisiana, and when officials found out that he in fact had been, they thought good there was a good chance he would be U.S. citizen. He was hustled out of Guantanamo and as in the Navy brig in Norfolk, Virginia.

He is held incommunicado. No lawyers. The lower court had ruled that he could have lawyer, but the Richmond Court of Appeals now has ruled that that is reversed. He cannot have a lawyer, but they did not go all the way to the government position, which was that, in fact, it was the executive branch which has the absolute right to claim that someone like Hamdi was an enemy combatant, that the courts had no role.

As a matter of fact, what the judges did is they said that was premature, saying that in dismissing, which they didn't do, they just sent it back to the lower court: "In dismissing, we ourselves would be summarily embracing a sweeping proposition, namely that with no meaningful judicial review, any American citizen alleged to be an enemy combatant could be detained indefinitely without charges or counsel, on the government's say-so."

They are saying that the court still has to have role in that, although the courts should give extreme deference to the executive branch, that in fact it is the president who conducts the war. But they do not say that the government's position is sustained, that it should have the absolute right in the name of the president, without any court review of who is and is not an enemy combatant -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Bob Franken. Thanks, Bob.

And we'll hear from Robert Pelton tonight. He's a guest on "NEWSNIGHT" at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 p.m. Pacific.

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