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WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2002 – Defense officials continue to work on the structure of military commissions or tribunals that may be used to try some Al Qaeda or Taliban detainees, Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said today.
Clarke told reporters "there is no hold up" in establishing the tribunals. The establishment of such military commissions, she noted, involves "extraordinarily difficult new issues and situations." "All the appropriate people are working their way carefully through the issues," Clarke said, noting that the president decides who would be tried by such commissions. President Bush issued the military order for the commissions on Nov. 13. Part of the order states, "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." ##30##
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