Bush Defends Order For Military Tribunals
President Hosts Ramadan Iftar Dinner
washingtonpost.com
By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 20, 2001; Page A14
President Bush said yesterday that his order allowing foreign terrorism suspects to be tried in military tribunals is "the absolute right thing to do," despite fears expressed by both liberals and conservatives that long-cherished principles of American justice could be compromised.
Bush signed an executive order last week allowing military trials of non-citizens who are members of the al Qaeda terrorist network or who are charged with aiding or committing acts of terrorism, or harboring terrorists. Such tribunals could be held in secret and could require a lower burden of proof for the government than a normal criminal proceeding. Civilians have not been subject to such trials since World War II.
"I need to have that extraordinary option at my fingertips," Bush said after a Cabinet meeting yesterday. "I ought to be able to have that option available should we ever bring one of these al Qaeda members in alive. It's our national interests, it's our national security interests that we have a military tribunal available. It is in the interests of the safety of potential jurors that we have a military tribunal."
Under the terms of the order, Bush will personally decide which cases should be handled by a tribunal. A senior administration official said that during several briefings on the issue, Bush was told that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had made those decisions himself, rather than delegating them to the Justice Department or the Pentagon.
"It was the president who said, 'This will be my decision,' " the official said, confirming a report in Newsweek. "As the president, he can take into account all the considerations -- from diplomatic to military to law enforcement to intelligence -- about whether this is the proper method of adjudicating justice."
The official said the tribunal could be used for foreign nationals arrested both within the United States and abroad. Bush said federal officials "will do everything we can to defend the American people within the confines of our Constitution, and that's exactly how we're proceeding."
"These are extraordinary times," Bush said yesterday. "I would remind those who don't understand the decision I made that Franklin Roosevelt made the same decision in World War II. Those were extraordinary times, as well."
Bush's Cabinet meeting featured a presentation by Andrew S. Natsios, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, who spent last week visiting refugee camps in central Asia. The United States has airlifted 20,000 wool blankets, 100 rolls of plastic sheeting, 200 metric tons of high-energy biscuits and one metric ton of sugar to Turkmenistan for distribution in Afghanistan.
"There are millions of Afghans who were starving prior to September the 11th as a result of drought," Bush said. "Obviously, to complicate matters, there has been a war in that land. And yet, this good nation is doing everything we can to move enormous amounts of food into the areas where people are likely to starve."
Last night, Bush wished "a blessed Ramadan" to 52 Muslim diplomats who came to the State Dining Room for a traditional Iftar dinner, which breaks the daily sunrise-to-sundown fast during Islam's holy month. Bush had refused calls from some Muslim leaders to cease hostilities in Afghanistan during Ramadan, which began Friday.
The guests included the Palestinian National Authority's representative in Washington, Hasan Abdel Rahman, and the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan. Bush, who has said he is at war with terrorism, not Islam, said in his dinner remarks that the Koran "has guided billions of believers across the centuries, and those believers built a culture of learning and literature and science."
"All the world continues to benefit from this faith and its achievements," Bush said. "Ramadan and the upcoming holiday season are a good time for people of different faiths to learn more about each other. And the more we learn, the more we find that many commitments are broadly shared."
After a White House Rose Garden ceremony, Bush had said his message for the dinner would be, "We're a nation of many faiths." Asked if the sentiment was symbolic, he immediately replied, "No -- it's real."
In a continuation of the administration's global campaign to highlight the oppression of Afghan women by the Taliban regime, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell met at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building yesterday with a spectrum of women that included Christian radio host Janet Parshall and feminists Eleanor Smeal and Mavis Leno.
Bonnie Erbe, host of PBS's "To the Contrary," said women who usually disagree rose to praise the administration for the campaign. "The Democratic women had to give them credit, because they're doing something very atypical and something that takes a lot of guts," Erbe said.
Today, the White House will release a public service announcement in which the president and first lady Laura Bush encourage volunteer service. |
