Military Tribunals and Terrorism

Military Tribunals and Terrorism


On September 11, 2001 the United States of America was rocked by terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon. The attacks where carried out by group known as al Qaida, who is based in Afghanistan. As a result the United States of America went to war once again. This was not a normal war against a country but a war against small groups of people that have been funded by several different countries. The war on terrorism has produced many prisoners. The question comes up what to do with them. They are not citizens of the United States for them most part. They are not representing a specific country in a war, so they are not prisoners of war. The government of the United States decided that they actually where prisoners of war and can be prosecuted using a military tribunal.

A military tribunal has a lot of differences from a traditional court. Military tribunals use a panel three to seven military officers as opposed to a ...