Ex-General to Oversee Guantanamo Trials

[Judi Lynn]

Ex-General to Oversee Guantanamo Trials
2 hours, 50 minutes ago
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon (news - web sites) has taken new steps in preparing for military trials of terrorist suspects held at a U.S. prison in Cuba, and the next major move will be the announcement of specific charges against one or more individuals detained as "enemy combatants."

On Tuesday the Pentagon announced that a retired Army general will oversee the military tribunals, with authority to approve charges and to appoint members of the tribunals who will hear cases.


Chosen for the job was John D. Altenburg Jr., who retired as a two-star general in 2002. His last military assignment was assistant judge advocate general for the Department of the Army.


None of the 660 suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been charged, and although the Pentagon has not said when it expects to begin military trials, the first is expected soon. It would be the United States' first use of military tribunals since World War II.
(snip/...)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031231/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/military_trials_8

[izzie]

1. Well General s do know how to take orders and.......

If he made it that far he does it well. I would not wish to go to court and have a general as the judge. Service is ruled top down and I am for ruling bottom up.

[Bridget Burke]

2. "...first use of tribunals since World War II..."

I heard that phrase on BBCAMERICA this morning, as well, with no further historical details. The phrase reminds us of "the good war" so we should be assured there's solid precedent. Perhaps the Nuremberg trials? No, that was an International Military Tribunal. What Bush proclaimed after 9/11 was quite different, and based upon a somewhat dubious case.

"There is a world of difference between the military tribunal created in 1942 and the tribunals authorized by President Bush. After the capture of eight Germans who arrived on two submarines in June 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a proclamation to create a military tribunal to try the men. Roosevelt therefore targeted eight specific individuals.

"The Bush military order covers a much larger universe: any individual who is 'not a United States citizen' (about 18 million inside U.S. borders) who gave assistance to the September 11 terrorists. The president need only determine that there is 'reason to believe' the person is or was a member of al Qaeda, 'has engaged in, aided or abetted, or conspired to commit, acts of international terrorism,' caused injury to U.S. national security, foreign policy, or the economy, or has 'knowingly harbored' one of more individuals described in the Bush order. FDR looked backward at a handful of known saboteurs who had confessed. Bush looked prospectively to 18 million noncitizens and resident aliens who had yet to be apprehended or charged."

http://hnn.us/articles/1710.html

(By the way, the German agents were apprehended because one of them called the FBI. Eventually, somebody to come arrest them. The one who "informed" was not executed but imprisoned, and eventually pardoned by President Truman.)