U.S. Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld named four people, including former U.S. Attorney
General Griffin Bell and Rhode Island Supreme Court Justice Frank Williams, to a panel that will review decisions made
by military tribunals, as final preparations unfold for trials of
suspected terrorists.
Rumsfeld also selected retired Army Major General John
Altenburg Jr., a career military lawyer, to oversee the
prosecutions, including approving charges and plea agreements and
naming tribunal members, a Pentagon statement said.
Along with Bell and Williams, the review panel will include former U.S.
Transportation Secretary William Coleman Jr.; and Edward Beister, a
Pennsylvania jurist and former state attorney general.
A military order on tribunal actions calls for “an
independent review similar to the role of an appellate court in
the civilian court system,” the Pentagon said. Written opinions
of the panel will be made public when appropriate, it added.
The appointments signal that the U.S. is drawing closer to
the start of trials of terrorism suspects rounded up in
Afghanistan and elsewhere since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on
the U.S. The trials would be the first military tribunals
conducted by the U.S. since World War II.
The military will try detainees among about 650 suspected al-
Qaeda and Taliban fighters held at a prison camp in Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba. Altenburg replaces Deputy Defense Secretary Paul
Wolfowitz in the role of overseer.
Altenburg was assistant judge advocate general for the Army,
and retired last year, according to the Pentagon. He will serve
as a civilian in his new post.
Bloomberg News