Below are some features of the military tribunals outlined by the administration, as summarized by Anthony Lewis of the New York Times. (Note, by the way, that these are not features of the American military's judicial system. The courts-martial to which American servicemen are subject do much more than Bush's proposed "military tribunals" to safeguard the rights of defendants.)

• Military officers, who are dependent on their superiors for promotion, would act as judge and jury.
• A two-thirds vote of commission members present at the time would be sufficient to convict—and to impose any sentence.
• The defendant could be barred, on security grounds, from seeing the evidence against him.
• The defendant could not appeal to "any court of the United States or any state."
• The trials could be held in secret.