President Bush signed has an order that would allow the U.S. military to set up special courts to try foreigners accused in the Sept. 11 attack and similar assaults. "To protect the United States and its citizens, and for the effective conduct of military operations and prevention of terrorist attacks, it is necessary for individuals subject to this order ... to be detained, and, when tried, to be tried for violations of the laws of war and other applicable laws by military tribunals," the order said.
White House counsel Al Gonzales said that the military order gave Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld the authority to establish the tribunals. The order did not name anybody who would be subject to prosecution in the military courts and did not apply to Americans.
"The president would make a separate independent finding that someone was a member of a terrorist organization like al Qaeda and that it was in the interests of the United States that the person be prosecuted," Gonzales said. "That person would then be delivered to the secretary of defense who would take control of the individual." Bureau Report