[Steve_Seattle]

The president will be making his decisions based on evidence provided to him by both military and civilian intelligence sources. This is not all that different from a county prosecutor signing an arrest warrant based on evidence gathered by the police. The fact that one man signs the order does not mean that he is acting on a personal whim. And as far as the claim that "rumor" and "hearsay" could be used as evidence, the order simply says that material subject to pre-existing regulations governing classified material cannot be released. As to whether these regulations could be abused in the hands of "the wrong people," so can the Constitution itself. In the hands of the wrong people, the Constitution is a meaningless piece of paper. No law is any better than the people who have the power to administer it. The administration is acting on the assumption that any further terrorists acts - or rather, the failure to prevent them - will be blamed squarely on the administration. And you can bet that a lot of the same people who are now screaming about "civil liberties" and "racial profiling" will be the first to say that the administration "should have known about" or "should have prevented" any future terrorist acts.

[LSJohn]

As to whether these regulations could be abused in the hands of "the wrong people," so can the Constitution itself. In the hands of the wrong people, the Constitution is a meaningless piece of paper. No law is any better than the people who have the power to administer it.

That's precisely why we should oppose due process issues being dealt with in secret. If they were to conduct the tribunals publicly, and use them only for individuals apprehended abroad, I would be a lot less troubled (see #28 above.)