Many legal experts have declared that the rules for proposed military tribunals are unfair and stacked in favor of the prosecution.

The guidelines for the military terrorism trials allow suspects and their civilian lawyers to be barred from some proceedings, restrict defense investigations and don't allow for review by independent courts, said military law experts and human rights groups opposed to the system.

Donald Rehkopf, co-chair of the military committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, called the planned military commissions ``an embarrassment to democracy.''

``This is a show. It's a kangaroo court of the worst sort,'' he said, describing the rules as crafted to guarantee convictions, compel guilty pleas and make it as easy as possible to get the death penalty.

"These (rules) are fundamentally contradictory to the American tradition of a fair trial," said Michael Noone, a professor at Catholic University's law school and a retired Air Force colonel.

We agree. Among the more troubling provisions:

- One rule requires defendants to prove they were justified in taking actions the government says are war crimes. Critics say that erodes the presumption of innocence that underlies American civilian and military trials. "That's an inversion of the burden of proof," said Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps judge who teaches a course on the law of war at Georgetown University.

- Decisions by the tribunals can be appealed only to a special panel of judges appointed by the Defense Department, and then directly to the president. "Bush, through his designees, can serve as prosecutor, judge and jury, and executioner. There's no independent judicial review of verdicts," said Wendy Patten of the group Human Rights Watch.

- Defendants and their civilian lawyers may be excluded from some proceedings where secret evidence is discussed.

- Civilian defense lawyers are not paid by the government and must do their defense work from the site where the military tribunals will be held.

Grant Lattin is a retired Marine Corps lawyer who has applied to be a civilian defense attorney for the tribunals. He astutely notes, "It's difficult to get civilian attorneys willing to go to Guantanamo Bay and spend a month or longer to defend these people on your own dime."

The rules for military tribunals are accessible here.