White House defends US terror tribunals [View All]

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

White House defends US terror tribunals

By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer
56 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration argued Friday
that discrepancies between the nation's new terror law
and the way it is being carried out should not stall
one of the Pentagon's first terrorism trials.

Arguing before the newly formed U.S. Court of Military
Commission Review, government attorneys urged judges
to look beyond the letter of the law when deciding
whether the military undermined its terrorism tribunals
at Guantanamo Bay.

The case hinges on a single word: unlawful. Before
terror suspects can be prosecuted before military
commissions, the law requires they be deemed "unlawful
enemy combatants." But Guantanamo Bay tribunals have
simply been calling them "enemy combatants."

Lawyers for Omar Khadr argue that's a fatal flaw in the
government's case and that Khadr can't go before a
military commission. If the three-judge appeals court
agrees, it could force the Pentagon to redo tribunals
for dozens of detainees.

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Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070824/ap_on_go_ot/terror_appeals_court_3