Tribunals To Take On Familiar Look

CBS News has learned Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will likely approve this month the guidelines to prosecute suspected Taliban fighters and al Qaeda terrorists, and that the rules will follow closely those already laid out to try members of the military.

Many of the 254 Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners now housed at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba will face military tribunals - the first time the process has been used since six German saboteurs were sentenced to death during World War II.

CBS News Chief White House Correspondent John Roberts reports the tribunals will be run by the Judge Advocate General's office - or JAG - which will provide judges and prosecutors.

A conviction will require proof beyond a reasonable doubt and a guilty vote by two thirds of the presiding judges. But the death penalty can only be imposed by unanimous vote.

The proposed rules of evidence are far more lenient than in the criminal justice system, where prosecutors are bound by strict guidelines. For example, hearsay evidence - forbidden before a civilian jury - would be allowed before the tribunal judges.

But suspects will have broad rights to not testify, to call witnesses and to present evidence. Contrary to early reports, there will be an appeals process with the ultimate appeal possibly to the President himself.

The guidelines have been carefully crafted to give the Administration maximum flexibility and minimum resistance.

"The fact that the rules look a lot more like the rules we're used to in the regular justice system means that any court that's going to review them is likely to approve them and that's what the administration was hoping for," says CBS News Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen.

The rules are far different than critics were expecting when the tribunals were first announced. Though, they point out, the proceedings can be carried out in secret with no public oversight.

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