Gonzales pushes lenient hearsay rules - Yahoo! News

Lil Alberto sould get prick of the year award

Gonzales pushes lenient hearsay rules - Yahoo! News:

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration wants a new system for trying terror suspects to let prosecutors withhold classified evidence from the accused, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Wednesday, holding to a hard line on detainee policy despite concerns by senators and military lawyers.

'We must not share with captured terrorists the highly sensitive intelligence that may be relevant to military commission proceedings,' Gonzales told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Gonzales said detainee legislation also should permit hearsay and coerced testimony, if deemed 'reliable' by a judge. These approaches are not permitted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, or UCMJ, which is used for military courts-martial.

The administration's plans have sounded alarms in the military's legal corps and on Capitol Hill, who say the UCMJ is a tried-and-true body of law that is well-regarded around the world.