American Indian Culture and Research Journal

Attend to the Indians. If the draft cannot proceed, of course it will not proceed. Necessity knows no law. —Abraham Lincoln, wire to Minnesota Governor Alexander Ramsey In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, civic leaders, military experts, and lay people are deciding what to do with the Taliban warriors and Al-Qaeda prisoners who were captured in the international war on terrorism. In November 2001, President George W. Bush startled some observers when he publicly announced the promulgation of an executive order for military tribunals, but a few months later the Department of Defense (DOD) made it clear that it was going to modify some of those rules in order to provide full and fair trials for defendants. The modified rules stipulated that any accused prisoners who appeared before potential tribunals would have the right to choose their own counsel, would have copies of the charges provided to them in their native language, and would have the right to obtain witnesses and documents needed for their defense. While the appellate review procedures established by the DOD guidelines would stay within the executive chain of command, the policy guidelines were written to balance the needs of military secrecy with the rights of individual defendants. Bush administrators made it clear that the guidelines ensured that suspected “terrorists” would receive the same legal protections given to any American soldiers who might appear before parallel courts-martial proceedings.