Pentagon: Terror Suspects Can Be "Imprisoned, Convicted And Executed" Using "Hearsay Evidence Or Coerced Testimony"

The Defense Department's rules for upcoming detainee trials would allow terrorism suspects to be convicted and perhaps executed using hearsay evidence and some coerced testimony.

The rules are fair, said the department, which released them Thursday in a manual for the expected trials. However, they could spark a fresh confrontation between the Bush administration and the Democratic-led Congress over treatment of terror suspects.

According to the 238-page manual, a detainee's lawyer could not reveal classified evidence in the person's defense until the government had a chance to review it. Suspects would be allowed to view summaries of classified evidence, not the material itself.

The new regulations are intended to track a law passed last fall by Congress restoring President George W. Bush's plans to have special military commissions try terror-war prisoners. Those commissions had been struck down earlier in the year by the Supreme Court.

At a Pentagon briefing, Dan Dell'Orto, deputy to the Defense Department's top counsel, said the new rules will "afford all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized people."

Rep. Ike Skelton, a Democrat and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he planned to scrutinize the manual to ensure that it does not "run afoul" of the U.S. Constitution.