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The military trial of Salim Ahmad Hamdan has resulted in an indictment of mixed results. Last week, the military jury in Guantanamo surprisingly dismissed charges of conspiracy and sentenced Hamdan to five and a half years for “material support for terrorism” as Osama bin Laden’s driver. Hamdan, who was originally facing 30 years to life, has to serve only five more months to complete his sentence since the first time he was charged in July 2003. The trial was seen as a test case for the military commissions system, a system that many, including the ACLU have deemed unconstitutional. According to the Defense Department, the short length of Hamdan’s sentence proves the system’s fairness. But in spite of this, the Pentagon is now preparing to justify Hamdan’s indefinite detention, saying that prisoners like him could be held as so-called enemy combatants even after they have been acquitted at military commissions or after serving a prison sentence. More cases are pending trial in military commissions including Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other alleged co-conspirators in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Those cases could carry the death penalty.

GUEST: Hina Shamsi, an attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project. For more information, visit www.aclu.org.