Alleged Terrorist May Get Tribunal

— -- Binalshibh May Be Tried Before Military Tribunal

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 17 — Ramzi Binalshibh, one of the biggest prizes inthe U.S.-led war on terror, could be the first alleged terroristtried before a military tribunal, after interrogators try to learnall they can from the alleged al Qaeda lieutenant.

Officials said the decision on how to try Binalshibh, one of themost important captures since the Sept. 11 attacks, ultimatelyrests with President Bush.

Senior government officials, who spoke on condition ofanonymity, said the first priority is determining how muchinformation the United States can learn from Binalshibh aboutplanned attacks and the operations of Osama bin Laden's network.

"The primary and first goal is to get valuable intelligencefrom him and prevent further attacks," a senior intelligenceofficial said.

Any information extracted from Binalshibh could be used againstother terror defendants, and could also be used against Binalshibhhimself if he is tried before a military tribunal, lawyers said.

That information would probably be excluded from a traditionalcriminal trial, lawyers said. Similarly, a television news tape inwhich a man identified as Binalshibh freely boasts of involvementin the Sept. 11 attacks would probably be admissible at a tribunal.

"This is not a guy a lot of people are going to sit back andworry they got an innocent man," said Robert Turner, associatedirector of the Center for National Security Law at the Universityof Virginia.

Legal experts said Binalshibh fits the administration's criteriafor use of military tribunals: He is not a U.S. citizen, he wascaptured abroad, and he is allegedly a member of al Qaeda.

"He certainly fits the bill," said Neal Sonnett, a Miamicriminal defense lawyer who was an early critic of administrationplans to strip traditional legal protections from defendants triedbefore tribunals.

"If they are going to utilize military commissions to try anyof these folks, based on what we've heard about him he seems to bea likely candidate."

So far, there is no indication that any alleged terrorist hasbeen tried by a military tribunal, whose proceedings can be keptmuch more secret than ordinary courts. Some lawyers said theadministration may be waiting for a big enough fish.

Though not a member of Osama bin Laden's top leadership,Binalshibh is believed to have been a long-serving and determinedal Qaeda operative. He allegedly had a role in the USS Cole bombingand last year's terror attacks, and was a member of the al Qaedacell in Hamburg, Germany, which U.S. and German investigatorsbelieve planned and carried out the jetliner attacks.

Binalshibh may have intended to be the 20th suicide hijacker,but he failed repeatedly to enter the United States. He wascaptured in Pakistan last week and is now in U.S. custody.

His history heightens the public relations value of makingBinalshibh the first alleged terrorist tried before a tribunal,said Scott L. Silliman, director of Duke University's Center onLaw, Ethics and National Security.

"The administration needs to come out with a militarycommission to justify the political capital it invested withCongress and the public," said Silliman, who also was critical ofplans for tribunals when they were announced last fall.

Some of the initial criticism was tempered when theadministration issued detailed rules for tribunals in March thatwould give defendants many traditional legal rights. Defendantsstill do not have full constitutional protection, and the standardsof evidence are looser before a tribunal than before a traditionalcriminal court.