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"He finally acknowledged the elephant in the room that everybody had always been talking about," said Jumana Musa, advocacy director for Amnesty International USA.

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"I cannot describe the specific methods used — I think you understand why," President Bush said in the East Room, where families of some of those who died in the Sept. 11 attacks heartily applauded him when he promised to finally bring the perpetrators to justice.

"If I did, it would help the terrorists learn how to resist questioning and to keep information from us that we need to prevent new attacks on our country. But I can say the procedures were tough, and they were safe and lawful and necessary." He insisted the detainees were not tortured.

"I want to be absolutely clear with our people, and the world: The United States does not torture," President Bush said... Earlier this year, an anti-torture panel at the United Nations recommended the closure of Guantanamo and criticized alleged U.S. use of secret prisons and suspected delivery of prisoners to foreign countries for questioning.

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President Bush said the information from terrorists in CIA custody has played a role in the capture or questioning of nearly every senior al-Qaida member or associate detained by the U.S. and its allies since the program began. He said they include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused Sept. 11 mastermind, as well as Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be 9/11 hijacker, and Abu Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama bin Laden and many al-Qaida cells. The president said interrogators have succeeded in getting information that has helped make photo identifications, pinpoint terrorist hiding places, provide ways to make sense of documents, identify voice recordings and understand the meaning of terrorist communications, al-Qaida's travel routes and hiding places.

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The administration had refused until now to acknowledge the existence of CIA prisons. President Bush said he was going public because the United States has largely completed questioning the suspects, and also because the CIA program had been jeopardized by the Supreme Court ruling. The Supreme Court ruled that prisoner protections spelled out by the Geneva Conventions should extend to members of al-Qaida.

In addition to torture and cruel treatment, the treaties ban "outrages against personal dignity" and "humiliating and degrading treatment." The Supreme Court ruling put a damper on the CIA's program, virtually putting the interrogation of detainees on hold until such prohibitions like "outrages against personal dignity" could be defined by law. "We're not interrogating now because CIA officials feel like the rules are so vague that they cannot interrogate without being tried as war criminals, and that's irresponsible," President Bush said Wednesday, in an interview with Katie Couric during her first week anchoring the "CBS Evening News."

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With the transfer of 14 men to Guantanamo, there currently are no detainees being held by the CIA, President Bush said. A senior administration official said the CIA had detained fewer than 100 suspected terrorists in the history of the program. Still, the president said that "having a CIA program for questioning terrorists will continue to be crucial to getting lifesaving information." ...

"I think what surprised me is he seemed to be asking Congress to legalize it through statutes," said Jumana Musa, advocacy director for Amnesty International USA, "essentially allowing him to continue to detain people in secret by sort of putting forth all this information that they got from these folks, and somehow using that to justify what has been recognized by U.N. committees as an unlawful act and contrary to our treaty obligations."

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The administration-drafted legislation would authorize the defense secretary to convene a military commission with five members, plus a judge to preside. It would guarantee a detainee's access to military counsel but eliminate other rights common in military and civilian courts. The bill would allow reliable hearsay and potentially coerced testimony to be used as evidence in court, as well as the submission of classified evidence "outside the presence of the accused."


Senate Republican leaders hailed President Bush's proposal. "It's important to remember these defendants are not common criminals," said Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "Rather, many are terrorists, sworn enemies of the United States." But Democrats and GOP moderates warned that the plan would set a dangerous precedent, ensuring the legislation would not likely sail through Congress unchanged.

Republican Sens. John Warner, John McCain and Lindsey Graham have drafted a rival proposal. Unlike the administration's plan, the senators' proposal would allow a defendant to access to all evidence used against them. The plan by Senator Warner, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, also would prohibit coerced testimony.

Senator Graham, R-S.C., said withholding evidence from a war criminal sets a dangerous precedent other nations could follow. "Would I be comfortable with (an American service member) going to jail with evidence they never saw?"

"No," Senator Graham said.

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Also on Wednesday, the Pentagon put out a new Army field manual that spells out appropriate conduct on issues including prisoner interrogation. The manual applies to all the armed services but not the CIA.