The Pentagon has released a list of two dozen crimes that will be subject to prosecution in a military tribunal.

The crimes include use of poisons or analogous weapons and the taking of human shields--as well as more traditional offenses such as the taking of hostages, murder, rape during an armed conflict and conspiracy.

Pentagon lawyers and other legal experts described the 19-page draft as a codification of the laws of war amid the new landscape of international terrorism.

It's been 15 months since Bush signed the order authorizing trial by military tribunal for non-U.S. citizens, and Rumsfeld says they are getting closer to finalizing the rules for such proceedings.

The military commissions are expected to involve a small number of prisoners held in camps outside the United States and would be conducted outside this country. Only a small number of the 650 detainees at the U.S. Navy prison at Guantanamo Bay and the 100 or so in a U.S. military compound in Bagram, Afghanistan, are likely to be taken before a tribunal, government officials have said.... Defendants will be given military lawyers and have the right to see evidence against them, unless it is classified. A decision by a two-thirds majority of judges would be required for conviction. .

The President makes the final decision as to whether a specific individual is tried by tribunal. Zacarias Moussaoui, now awaiting federal trial in Virginia, may become the first person to be tried in before a military tribunal if the Government loses its bid in the 4th Circuit to keep Moussaoui's lawyers from interviewing Ramzi Binalshibh, a witness who could provide exculpatory information for Moussaoui.