November 18, 2001	Sunday	Ramazan 2, 1422

NEW YORK, Nov 17: American civil libertarians, human rights groups and legal experts have castigated President Bush’s decision to use secret military tribunals to try suspected terrorists (not US citizens) in its war against terrorism.

Jonathan Turley, a law professor at the George Town University said in a column that “It is a court that appears designed with the ends and not the means of justice in mind. It is also a decision that may snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in our fight against terrorism. The creation of this secret tribunal appears to have less to do with the prosecution of terrorists than it does the prosecution of the war in Afghanistan”.

He observed, “We cannot hope to win this conflict by simply beating some troglodyte regime with space-age technology. These trials were to be the measure of the legitimacy of our cause throughout the world. Particularly when combined with the expanded activity of our secret surveillance, the secret military tribunal creates an alien process, like a legal system in a burka. We do not defeat the Taliban by embracing its view of swift and arbitrary justice. The problem is not that people like Bin Laden would find this secret tribunal alien but that he would find it all too familiar.”

The New York Times in a scathing editorial on Friday termed Mr Bush’s decision “dangerous” saying “In his effort to defend America from terrorists, Mr Bush is eroding the very values and principles he seeks to protect, including the rule of law.”

The Times noted that “the administration’s action is the latest in a troubling series of attempts since Sept. 11 to do an end run around the Constitution. It comes on the heels of an announcement that the Justice Department intends to wiretap conversations between some prisoners and their lawyers. The administration also continues to hold hundreds of detainees without revealing their identities, the charges being brought against them or even the reasons for such secrecy.”

The paper asserted “the tribunals Mr Bush envisions are a breathtaking departure from due process. He alone will decide who should come before these courts. The military prosecutors and judges who determine the fate of defendants will all report to him as commander in chief. Cases can be heard in secret. Hearsay, and evidence that civilian courts may deem illegally obtained, may be permissible. A majority of only two-thirds of the presiding officers would be required to convict, or to impose a death sentence. There would be no right of appeal to any other court.”

“Using secretive military tribunals would ultimately undermine American interests in the Islamic world by casting doubt on the credibility of a verdict against Osama bin Laden and his aides. No amount of spinning by Mr. Bush’s public relations team could overcome the impression that the verdict had been dictated before the trial began.”