Word: civilian
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...decree, urged on the President by Attorney General John Ashcroft, allows the government to circumvent the legal requirements of a civilian trial (i.e. all that "innocent until proven guilty" stuff) in favor of brisk, clandestine proceedings behind closed doors. No jury, no public hearing. Just swift "justice...
...There is a precedent for such an order: In 1942, eight Nazi saboteurs sneaked onto U.S. soil armed with explosives to be directed against military and civilian installations. Their plan was thwarted, and all were tried and convicted in a secret military trial ordered by President Roosevelt. Of the eight, six were electrocuted...
...standards of guilt, explains Pyle, are far different in a military tribunal than they are in a civilian court or even in a traditional military trial. "They don't need to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, or even a preponderance of evidence pointing to guilt," he says. "The court just needs to convince the majority of the military officers present - all of whom see themselves as being 'at war' with this prisoner - that the Pakistani man had something to do with a terrorist...
...experts question the necessity of creating a whole new court system. "It's not clear to me why we're doing this now," says Professor Jonathan Entin, who teaches constitutional law at Case Western Reserve University. "We tried the people who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993 in civilian court. Since we figured out a way to handle that trial, I guess my question is why this administration now sees civilian courts as inadequate...
Palmer, Owen and McCarthy said the mounting civilian casualties from the bombing campaigh in Afghanistan were similar to those resulting from American interventions in the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf...