The WaPo has a more detailed article on Bush’s defense of military tribunals. As it turns out, he does attempt to justify them on the basis that FDR used military tribunals to try a group of saboteurs back in 1942. Of course, in that case, FDR asked for a tribunal to hear the specific case of saboteurs who had already been caught, not for blanket authority to use them against any non-citizen at his discretion. He did this when the nation was officially at war with Germany. Furthermore, he took the issue to the Supreme Court rather than just issuing an executive order granting himself the right to hold the tribunals. And finally, the Supreme Court decision is generally looked back on as a mistake and a miscarriage of justice, so trying to justify the current executive order on those grounds is disingenuous at best.