OMEN
08-03-2006, 12:19 AM
THE Bush administration today said it would accept many but not all elements of the military justice code to try foreign terrorism suspects, to replace military tribunals that the US Supreme Court ruled illegal.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said the administration was still drafting its plan, but that it would propose trying enemy combatants based on military court martial procedures - although with a number of key changes.
Those include allowing hearsay evidence, limiting rights against self-incrimination before a trial, and limiting defendants' access to classified information.
Mr Gonzales also told the Senate Armed Services Committee the the administration's current thinking was to allow testimony obtained by coercion if it was reliable and useful.
Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the committee's top Democrat, said those provisions would leave the new trial system vulnerable to another court challenge.
"It's important that we be consistent with the ruling of the Supreme Court, and it's important that we do it right," Senator Levin said.
Mr Gonzales offered the administration's plan as Congress crafts a process to try terrorism suspects, who are mostly held in prison at the US nNavy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Among them is Adelaide man David Hicks, who has been charged with a number of offences and had been due before a military tribunal until they were held to be illegal.
The Supreme Court in June struck down the system of tribunals that President George W. Bush established following the September 11 attacks.
That system would have allowed defendants to be barred from their own trials, limited their access to evidence, and allowed testimony from interrogations that critics said amounted to torture.
The court said Bush's tribunals lacked congressional authorisation and did not meet US military or international justice standards.
Mr Gonzales said Congress should enact a process for trying terrorism suspects separate from courts martial that closely tracks the procedures of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
However, he also said strict adherence to the court martial system was not practical because prosecuting terrorists was different than prosecuting members of the US armed services.
In a testy exchange with Arizona Republican Senator John McCain, who was tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, Mr Gonzales said some testimony obtained by coercion likely could be used in trials.
Senator McCain asked whether testimony obtained by illegal or inhumane methods could be used. After a long pause, Mr Gonzales said that would depend on how inhumane was defined.
Mr Gonzales argued that the Geneva Convention's prohibition on "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment" was too vague.
Reuters
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said the administration was still drafting its plan, but that it would propose trying enemy combatants based on military court martial procedures - although with a number of key changes.
Those include allowing hearsay evidence, limiting rights against self-incrimination before a trial, and limiting defendants' access to classified information.
Mr Gonzales also told the Senate Armed Services Committee the the administration's current thinking was to allow testimony obtained by coercion if it was reliable and useful.
Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the committee's top Democrat, said those provisions would leave the new trial system vulnerable to another court challenge.
"It's important that we be consistent with the ruling of the Supreme Court, and it's important that we do it right," Senator Levin said.
Mr Gonzales offered the administration's plan as Congress crafts a process to try terrorism suspects, who are mostly held in prison at the US nNavy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Among them is Adelaide man David Hicks, who has been charged with a number of offences and had been due before a military tribunal until they were held to be illegal.
The Supreme Court in June struck down the system of tribunals that President George W. Bush established following the September 11 attacks.
That system would have allowed defendants to be barred from their own trials, limited their access to evidence, and allowed testimony from interrogations that critics said amounted to torture.
The court said Bush's tribunals lacked congressional authorisation and did not meet US military or international justice standards.
Mr Gonzales said Congress should enact a process for trying terrorism suspects separate from courts martial that closely tracks the procedures of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
However, he also said strict adherence to the court martial system was not practical because prosecuting terrorists was different than prosecuting members of the US armed services.
In a testy exchange with Arizona Republican Senator John McCain, who was tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, Mr Gonzales said some testimony obtained by coercion likely could be used in trials.
Senator McCain asked whether testimony obtained by illegal or inhumane methods could be used. After a long pause, Mr Gonzales said that would depend on how inhumane was defined.
Mr Gonzales argued that the Geneva Convention's prohibition on "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment" was too vague.
Reuters