Bush Decides 6 Detainees Can Be Tried by Military

President Bush has determined that six people detained in the war on terrorism can be tried in military commissions, Pentagon officials announced Thursday, moving a step closer to the first such tribunals since World War II.

The names of the detainees were not released, but officials said they have strong indications that the six were involved in terrorist plots. It also was not clear where the six were being held.

“There is evidence that the individuals designated by the president may have attended terrorist training camps and may have been involved in such activities as financing Al Qaeda, providing protection for Osama bin Laden, and recruiting future terrorists,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

Once the first commission is held it would mark a historic turn in the war on terrorism.

At the end of World War II, the United States used military commissions to try enemy combatants. The system appears weighted to the government’s advantage. The judge and jury would be U.S. military personnel.

Unlike traditional criminal trials, the proceedings of military tribunals can be kept secret. The accused would be provided a military lawyer, could not be tried twice by a military commission for the same offense, could refuse to testify and could enter a plea agreement.

The U.S. courts provide many layers of appeals, but in military commissions, findings and sentences are final once approved by the president or the secretary of Defense.

A conviction, which in civilian criminal court would require a unanimous jury verdict, could be handed down on a two-thirds vote by the military jury. A death sentence, however, would have to be unanimous.

Bush reached his determination after considering several “relevant factors” in each case, authorities said. Those factors include “the quality of evidence” and how far along the intelligence-gathering process has come since the detainees were captured.

Also, one authority said, there is the matter of “our desire to bring closure to individual cases.”

About 680 detainees allegedly linked to Al Qaeda or the Taliban are incarcerated at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In addition, more high-profile captives, including a number of suspects reportedly linked to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, are confined at undisclosed locations.

In November 2001, two months after terrorists commandeered commercial airplanes and crashed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Bush issued a White House directive creating the military commissions system. Under that system, the Pentagon was to report to him when it believed detainees met the criteria of being non-U.S. citizens who also were enemy combatants, members of the Al Qaeda terrorist network or “otherwise involved in terrorism directed against the United States.”

In the announcement Thursday, officials said Bush has decided that, so far, six detainees meet those characteristics.

Now the commission organization has the authority to study the six cases and determine whether charges should be filed against any of the detainees.

“The prosecution would look at the cases, determine if there were appropriate charges” and then order an individual to stand trial, a senior Defense Department official said.

“These are people among others who have been evaluated” already, the official said, and “we’ve determined that we have sufficient action” to name them as defendants in a military trial.

How soon any commissions might convene is uncertain. “We’ve been proceeding very methodically and deliberately and carefully and I think that that will continue to guide the military commission process,” the senior Defense official said.

“In that regard it probably wouldn’t be prudent to set any kind of a timeline because the criminal justice system should not be driven by timelines. They should be driven by the facts of the case.

“That’s what the next step is, for the chief prosecutor to look at the facts of the case and see if there are appropriate charges.”

If a detainee goes to trial and is found not guilty, he could remain in custody anyway. As an enemy combatant, he could be detained for the duration of the war on terrorism.

And, said the Defense official, “the war on terrorism is open-ended.”

Unless charges are announced against any of the six detainees, their names will not be released, officials said.

Even then, the senior official added, the names could be kept secret if the government determined national security was at stake.

If any of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay are charged, it is likely they would stand trial there.

Officials at the U.S. base in Cuba said preparations are being made for courtrooms there, as well as an execution chamber should one be needed.

Detainees held elsewhere could be brought to Cuba, or tried in military commissions at other locations.

Eugene R. Fidell, head of the National Institute of Military Justice, expressed doubts Thursday that any of the major captives would be included in the first round of military commissions.

The interrogation of those high-level terrorist operatives is likely continuing, officials have said, and the U.S. would want to hold them for as long as possible -- especially as new information is developed about other planned attacks.

Also still in doubt is the fate of Zacarias Moussaoui, once dubbed the “20th hijacker.” Moussaoui’s case is in federal court in Alexandria, Va., where he has been successfully pursuing his request to meet with other captives and have them testify in his behalf at his trial.

Federal prosecutors strongly oppose that request.

The Department of Justice ultimately could hand off the case to the Pentagon and send Moussaoui to trial by military commission.

Whether other high-profile terrorism suspects will be subject to trial by military commission is uncertain.

One such suspect is Jose Padilla, an American citizen arrested in Chicago after he allegedly returned to this country to scout out a target for a radioactive “dirty bomb.” Padilla has not been charged and remains in a Navy brig.

Another possible case involves a Qatari man whose status changed last week when the Bush administration dropped criminal visa violation charges against him and instead declared him an “enemy combatant” who allegedly led an effort to settle Al Qaeda “sleeper” operatives in this country. It was the first time such a change in status has occurred.