Salon.com News | Document: Bin Laden evaded U.S. forces: "March 22, 2005  |  Washington -- A terror suspect held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was a commander for Osama bin Laden during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and helped the al-Qaida leader escape his mountain hideout at Tora Bora in 2001, according to a U.S. government document.

The document, provided to The Associated Press in response to a Freedom of Information request, says the unidentified detainee 'assisted in the escape of Osama bin Laden from Tora Bora.'

The detainee is not identified by name or nationality. He is described as being 'associated with' al-Qaida and having called for a jihad, or holy war, against the United States.

In an indication that he might be a higher-level operative, the document says he 'had bodyguards' and collaborated with regional al-Qaida leadership. 'The detainee was one of Osama bin Laden's commanders during the Soviet jihad,' it says, referring to the holy war against Soviet occupiers."

(Via Salon.)