FC: More on Bush's secret military tribunals; WashPost editorial

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38008-2001Nov15.html
  "When Americans accused of terrorism are tried in secret courts by
   hooded judges in Peru or other nations, the U.S. government rightly
   objects. To authorize comparable trials in this country will erase any
   legitimacy of such objections. Worse, it will erode throughout the
   world the image of America as a place where certain freedoms cannot be
   compromised -- freedoms that ultimately provide the most basic
   justification for this country to stake its claim to lead the world
   and wage the war on terrorism. And worse in turn than the blow to the
   U.S. image abroad will be the potentially irreversible injury at home
   if Mr. Bush proceeds, as his order would allow, to undermine the rule
   of law."

---
http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,48443,00.html
   Bush's Tribunals Under Fire
   By Declan McCullagh (declan_at_wired.com)
  
   2:00 a.m. Nov. 16, 2001 PST
   WASHINGTON -- President Bush's decision to try civilians before secret
   military tribunals could lead to the kind of showdown between the Army
   and the judiciary not seen since the Civil War.
   
   Bush quietly signed an executive order this week that says any
   suspected terrorist "who is not a United States citizen" can be
   arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced by the U.S. military.
   
   The two-page order, drawing on the president's authority as
   commander-in-chief during wartime, says a secret military tribunal may
   impose sentences as harsh as death on illegal visitors to the United
   States, green-card holders or tourists who are accused of terrorism.
   
   By filing a so-called writ of habeas corpus, attorneys representing
   someone facing a tribunal could petition the civilian courts to take
   up the case, a move that could lead to a rare tussle between civilian
   and military authorities.
   [...]
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