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CNN Live At Daybreak

Military Tribunals Will Be Similar to Courts Martial

Aired March 21, 2002 - 05:09   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: For a long time you've heard all the worry and speculation about military tribunals for alleged terrorists. Will the trials be secret? Will the accused have any rights? Well, about seven hours from now Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will tell us how those terror trials will work.

Sources have told CNN's Jamie McIntyre what to expect.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Pentagon sources say it's possible only a small number of the Taliban and al Qaeda fighters held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba will ever face a military commission. The Pentagon says the legal process it's fashioned takes into account the concerns of critics.

VICTORIA CLARKE, PENTAGON SPOKESPERSON: I think when people see the whole thing and hear the questions get answered I think they'll say you know what, that's a pretty good product and that is a fair and a balanced and a just system.

MCINTYRE: Sources say the process will be open, similar to a military court martial. The accused will be presumed innocent. They must be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendants will have the right to an attorney and to see any evidence against them, although classified material may be reviewed in closed session and the military panel will have to be unanimous to impose the death penalty.

There are also some differences. The panel can decide to admit hearsay and secondhand evidence, and while there will be a right to appeal, it will be to a military review board, not the federal courts. And the final review will fall to President Bush, who seems to have already made up his mind.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Remember these are, the ones in Guantanamo Bay are killers. They don't share the same values we share.

MCINTYRE: That doesn't sound like an impartial process to some members of Congress.

REP. JOHN CONYERS (D), MICHIGAN: They want to get easier convictions. When you have a military tribunal, there are very few people that don't get convicted in them just as a matter of course. MCINTYRE (on camera): Critics like Conyers insist that they are motivated not by sympathy for terrorists, but rather concern the Pentagon might set a precedent that could subject U.S. troops captured in the future to kangaroo courts.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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