Lately, under mounting criticism, the Bush administration has been claiming it means to try only captured enemy leaders by military tribunal (although sometimes it still makes mention of trying American residents such as Zacarias Moussaiou, who is suspected of having planned to join in the Sept. 11 hijackings). But that's at odds with Bush's executive order calling for the tribunals. The executive order aroused so much controversy largely because it can apply to all Americans who aren't citizens, including those now in detention. The reason the administration is suddenly backpedaling is obvious: The use of military courts against civilians is unconstitutional, whereas the practice of trying enemy combatants that way, though possibly a violation of American law, does have a long, if inglorious, history. The widely acknowledged tendency of military tribunals to degenerate into show trials is one reason that most advanced nations (including, for a time, the United States) favored the creation of international war crimes tribunals, such as those used at Nuremberg after World War II.