Mukasey defends military courts
Says terror cases pose security risk
FARMINGTON, Pa. - Attorney General Michael Mukasey, defending military commissions to prosecute suspected terrorists, told federal judges yesterday that the upcoming trials will be "in the best traditions of the American legal system."
Mukasey's remarks came amid fresh criticism of the legal processes at Guantanamo Bay. Just this week, the Pentagon defended the abrupt removal of a judge from a case after rulings unfavorable to the government.
Speaking to a conference of Washington federal judges, Mukasey said the decision to try terrorism cases outside civilian courthouses is not made lightly.
Criminal cases, he said, could jeopardize military operations and national security by forcing prosecutors to turn over sensitive intelligence data to lawyers for suspected terrorists.
As Mukasey was speaking, Human Rights Watch urged the government to move the trials of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others accused in the Sept. 11 attacks from Guantanamo Bay to federal court. The five are scheduled to make their first appearance before a military judge today.
In civilian courts, hearsay evidence and confessions obtained through coercion are not admissible. Such evidence is allowed in the military commissions.
"The military commission trials . . . will look and feel a lot like federal trials, albeit with some important differences," Mukasey said.
But lawyers for Canadian detainee Omar Khadr questioned the integrity of the process recently after the Pentagon removed a judge, Colonel Peter Brownback, who had issued rulings favorable to the defense.
"Whatever the case, this seriously undermines whatever integrity these proceedings possessed before," said Khadr's lawyer, Navy Lieutenant Commander William Kuebler.
The Pentagon said Brownback was replaced because his service orders were expiring.
