GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE: 

HELPING HAND: Salim Ahmed Hamdan

A one-time driver for Osama bin Laden helped the FBI try to track down his boss after being captured in Afghanistan, his former interrogators said yesterday. Salim Hamdan led agents to the al-Qaida chief's compounds in Kandahar and mapped out his movements in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks, said FBI special agent Robert Fuller.

Hamdan, whose trial is scheduled to begin next week, was captured by Afghan forces at a roadblock in November 2001 and turned over to the US, which quickly realised his value in the hunt for bin Laden.

One interrogator from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Michael St Ours, said Hamdan acknowledged being close enough to bin Laden to know he was planning a major operation a week before the 9/11 attacks. "He told us that after 9/11 took place, he asked bin Laden if that was the operation he was talking about, to which he said 'Yes,'" said St Ours.

He drew maps identifying key locations including a guesthouse frequented by al-Qaida members. His assistance continued after he arrived at Guantanamo in May 2002.

The US military is now preparing to use the interrogations against Hamdan at the first American war-crimes trial since World War II. The Yemeni prisoner faces a maximum life sentence if convicted of conspiracy and supporting terrorism. Hamdan's Pentagon-appointed attorney, Navy Lt Cmdr Brian Mizer, said the U.S. is not sufficiently taking into account the help that Hamdan provided following his capture. "It's awfully suspicious for someone who is a hard-core al-Qaida member as prosecutors claim," he told reporters.