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CNN Live Today

Pentagon Develops Legal System to Deal With Detainees

Aired March 20, 2002 - 14:07   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Barely a day after Operation Anaconda wrapped up in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. troops found themselves again under fire. One GI is wounded. Barbara Starr back at the Pentagon to talk about this and also a new form of military justice. We should hear more about this tomorrow. Quick preview. Here's Barbara once again at the Pentagon. Good afternoon.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill. Well, the Pentagon is calling it a brand-new legal system that it's developing to deal with the Taliban and al Qaeda detainees who have now been held by the U.S. for some months. What we expect tomorrow is Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to unveil the plan for how these military tribunals or commissions will be conducted, how these men will face trial by the United States military.

All of the information is very close held at the moment, but we are learning some details. What we expect to see is a plan that calls for only a handful of detainees to actually face trial. Only the al Qaeda or Taliban who are the most senior. The rest could go back to their home countries for prosecution there, or continue to be held by the United States. The other elements we expect to see in these tribunals: No television cameras will be permitted. They will be open to the public and to the news media as much as possible, but no TV cameras, and they will be closed when classified information is being discussed.

We are also told that those who face these trials will have the protection of being presumed innocent until proven guilty, and they will have to be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. There will have to be a unanimous decision by a military jury for a death penalty verdict. President Bush will review any convictions if he chooses to do so.

But all of this is likely to be very controversial in the days ahead, as more details are unveiled by the Pentagon.

Now at the briefing earlier today here, we learned a very interesting detail. In a search of caves in eastern Afghanistan earlier this week, U.S. troops came across something that was almost an eerie voice from the past. What they found in this cave was a global positioning system receiver unit inside a pouch. And it had a name on it, G. Gordon. And U.S. officials have now determined that they believe this equipment, which is used to locate positions, actually belonged to Army Master Sergeant Gary Gordon, who was one of the 19 U.S. Special Forces troops killed in Somalia almost a decade ago, in October 1993. They have notified his family now that they found a piece of his equipment.

What officials are trying to determine is what this all means. Does this prove more than a decade-old connection between the al Qaeda and operations in Somalia? Was Sergeant Gordon's equipment simply stolen and transferred many times on the black market? They're not really sure, but Pentagon officials are talking to the manufacturer of this piece of equipment, running down the serial number, and trying to determine why a U.S. soldier's piece of equipment turned up in Afghanistan almost 10 years after his death in Africa -- Bill.

HEMMER: And Barbara, on that last point, the Pentagon today not clear if this piece of equipment was still working properly, is that right?

STARR: That's right. They believe that forces -- troops in the field did try and turn it on, and may have gotten it to work. They're not exactly sure. And they're talking to the manufacturer to try and track down more information about this equipment.

HEMMER: Nonetheless, a fascinating detail tonight. Barbara, thank you.

STARR: You're welcome.

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