Military

DATE=3-13-02

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

TITLE=U-S TERROR TRIALS

NUMBER=5-51256

BYLINE=ELAINE JOHANSON

DATELINE=NEW YORK

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The U-S military is battling the Al-Qaida network in Afghanistan, leading to the question of whether the American justice system has a role to play against terrorism? Outgoing U-S Attorney Mary Jo White has successfully prosecuted several major terrorist cases in New York, and Correspondent Elaine Johanson reports the Federal Prosecutor believes putting terrorists on trial remains a vital tool.

TEXT: Mary Jo White has an unblemished record of convictions against terrorists, beginning with the case of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center that killed six-people.

There were also the foiled plot to bomb New York landmarks, and the so-called Manila Air Plot aimed at blowing up about a dozen U-S airliners bound for the United States. That, too, was foiled.

In 1998, terrorists bombed two U-S embassies in East Africa. The death toll was 224.

All the defendants who stood trial in these cases were sentenced either to life in prison or very lengthy jail terms.

That brings us to September 11th, 2001. U-S armed forces are pursuing Osama Bin Laden and his terrorist network. Attorney Mary Jo White believes the war on terrorism, at this point, belongs primarily in the hands of the military. But she believes prosecutions remain an effective way of incapacitating terrorists who cannot be dealt with through military or other means.

/// WHITE ACT ///

Putting dangerous terrorists in jail and taking them out of circulation for life or for many years means that some bombs are not built and detonated, and some planes are not hijacked, some innocent people are not assassinated. That is obviously good. And some would-be terrorists are deterred from engaging in terrorist acts.

/// END ACT ///

But Ms. White concedes the U-S courts will not end the threat of terrorism, no matter how many successful prosecutions are carried out.

/// WHITE ACT ///

We must recognize that when we are dealing with committed extremists, who are willing, even anxious, to die in service of their cause, the deterrent effect that can be achieved through prosecutions is necessarily limited.

/// END ACT ///

Military tribunals for terrorists, as proposed by President Bush, are a novel and controversial idea. But Ms. White believes the tribunals might be appropriate for the crimes of September 11th, since the trials would likely include sensitive intelligence information.

But she says a lot more debate is required to ensure that the rights of the defendants are protected. Ms. White would like the Bush administration to provide more details, including, for example, whether tribunal verdicts can be reviewed by civilian courts:

/// WHITE ACT ///

If and when they are used, they must be, in fact and perception, a means of achieving credible justice in the eyes of the world. If they are not, we risk losing the world coalition against terrorism that is, in my view, the single most important element in success in this war.

/// END ACT ///

In looking back over her tenure, Mary Jo White says she was profoundly affected by the consequences of the two U-S Embassy bombings in Africa. Most of the victims were not American. She says no one should need any more convincing about the horror of international terrorism, especially in human terms:

/// WHITE ACT ///

That trial brought home how the world has been shrunk, however unwelcomed, by international terrorism, how it strikes and slaughters innocent people all over the world, how much alike we all are, in losing a husband, a mother, a brother, a friend, a colleague, a child. The grief and loss cut across the country of citizenship and all differences in culture, language and religion.

/// END ACT ///

Lest we forget, she says, September 11th may have been an attack against American targets on American soil. But the victims included citizens from scores of other countries, turning the grief into an international experience. (SIGNED)

NEB/NY/EJ/RAE