>I can't help but suspect that some higher ranking US military, really
>do not savor the idea of having the military system of justice abused
>and corroded by extending it to cover civilians. It has got to be
>giving at least some of them, real qualms. This whole business is very
>much like the kind of abusive expedience of the military, that
>destroyed its credibility and morale during Vietnam.
There was an article in the Guardian the other day making exactly this point.
Apparently Bush's kangaroo court decree is just WW2 material with "Afghan/istan" substituted for "Jap(an/ese)"; postwar, this was superseded by a military code which essentially put the military justice system on all fours with the civilian.
According to the article (which was by the Liberal Democrats' spokesman in the House of Lords) there's a team of top military lawyers trying to amend the decree in such a way that Bush's face will be saved.
Julian