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CNN Live Today

U.S. Set to Announce Details of Military Commissions

Aired March 21, 2002 - 13:10   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: The U.S. is set to announce how it will try some of the captured Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners before military commission. The Pentagon is not calling them tribunals anymore, and that is just one way it hopes to head off criticism that the trials may violate principles of the U.S. justice system.

From the Pentagon now, our military affairs correspondent Jamie McIntyre with this story.

(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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: And in just -- less than an hour, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, along with the vice chairman of the joint chiefs and the Pentagon's top lawyer, the general counsel, will lay out in detail exactly what they have come up with for these trials, and they say that they will be able to defend them as fair and just against any criticism -- Bill.

HEMMER: You know, Jamie, the one thing we do not know about this issue is whether or not it will ever even take place. Is there much talk about that at the Pentagon, or is it something that they believe will happen at some point at some date with the small group of men?

MCINTYRE: Well, the thought process now is that there will be some small number that will face these military commissions or tribunals, but it is entirely possible that in the end nobody will. It will be entirely up to President Bush to decide who is subject to this kind of justice, and it is probably going to be several months before anything takes place.

The berry objective of the Pentagon is to get from these detainees in Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere intelligence that will prevent future attacks against the United States and help them track down al Qaeda terrorist cells in as many as 60 countries around the world. At that point, they may send some of them back to their country of origin, or they may face this tribunal.

But at this point, it's not clear whether it will be just a small number, and whether it's possible that maybe none will face it at all.

HEMMER: We may learn more in about 47 minutes' time. Thank you, Jamie, see you then. Secretary Rumsfeld will make that announcement at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. We will bring it to you live, again, when it happens at the Pentagon, 11:00 a.m. on the West Coast.

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