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Bush officials defend military trials in terror cases

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Defending President Bush's decision to allow military tribunals -- not civilian courts -- to try non-U.S. citizens accused of terrorism, Vice President Dick Cheney said Wednesday that terrorists "don't deserve the same guarantees and safeguards" of the American judicial system.

"They will have a fair trial, but it will be under the procedures of a military tribunal, under rules and regulations to be established in connection with that," Cheney said, responding to reporters' questions after a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington. "We think it's the appropriate way to go."

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft also voiced his support for the decision, saying there was no reason a terrorist captured in another nation such as Afghanistan has to be brought back to the United States for trial.

"Foreign terrorists who commit war crimes against the United States in my judgment are not entitled to, do not deserve the protections of the American Constitution," Ashcroft said, "and particularly when there could be very serious and important reasons related to not bringing them back to the United States for justice."

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Bush signed a military order Tuesday giving him the option of trying non-U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism before a special military commission as opposed to trying them in civilian courts.

Senior administration officials told CNN that the proceedings could be secret and may be held in the United States or overseas, including in countries such as Pakistan or Afghanistan as well as on U.S. military ships.

Regardless of the location, U.S. laws and punishments, including the death penalty, would apply, said David Sheldon, a former U.S. Navy appellate lawyer.

Decisions about where a proceeding would be held and whether it would be secret would be made on a "case-by-case basis," depending on a range of factors, including intelligence information and the nature of the threat that the accused posed, a senior administration official said.

Such tribunals are permissible in peacetime and in times of conflict, Sheldon said, and differ in significant ways from trials in civilian courts, including:

-- The allowance of a two-thirds majority decision instead of a unanimous verdict, even in cases involving the possibility of life prison sentences.

-- The use of jury trials for capital offenses only, with U.S. officials selecting the jury.

Sheldon said that if a trial did occur in secret, the Freedom of Information Act probably would not apply to court transcripts.

The American Civil Liberties Union criticized Bush's order as "disturbing." Laura Murphy, director of the ACLU's Washington office, said the president "must justify why the current system does not allow for the timely prosecution of those accused of terrorist activities."

"Absent such a compelling justification, [Tuesday]'s order is deeply disturbing and further evidence that the administration is totally unwilling to abide by the checks and balances that are so central to our democracy," Murphy said. "Increasingly they appear willing to circumvent the requirements of the Bill of Rights."

Stanley Cohen, a criminal defense lawyer who has represented internationally recognized Muslim leaders, said that the commissions' proceedings would not be open to public scrutiny and would limit a defendant's access to information to prepare an adequate defense.

Cheney said there is precedent for such military tribunals, saying conspirators in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln were tried that way as well as German saboteurs captured in 1942 along the U.S. East Coast during World War II.

"The basic proposition here is that somebody who comes into the United States of America illegally, who conducts a terrorist operation, killing thousands of innocent Americans -- men, women and children -- is not a lawful combatant," Cheney said. "They don't deserve to be treated as a prisoner of war. They don't deserve the same guarantees and safeguards that would be used for an American citizen going through the normal judicial process."

-- White House Correspondent Kelly Wallace, Producer Terry Frieden and CNN.com Writer Christy Oglesby contributed to this report.