Washington – In a dramatic announcement, President Bush acknowledged Wednesday that he had authorized a secret CIA detention program and announced plans to bring to trial 14 top terrorism suspects, including some of the alleged architects of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Bush used the announcement, delivered five days before the fifth anniversary of the 2001 attacks, to challenge Congress to authorize him to wage the war on terrorism on his terms.
At stake is defining how the rule of law governs the executive branch as it deals with captives who it suspects are terrorists.
Speaking to a White House audience that included relatives of Sept. 11 victims, Bush demanded that lawmakers revive his plan for military tribunals without key legal safeguards for those on trial, legalize the CIA’s detention program and shield U.S. officials from war-crimes prosecution.
Leading lawmakers in both parties said they would insist that the detainee trials offer legal rights that Bush opposes, but the president’s announcement appeared to be intended to give him more leverage in his negotiations with Congress over how to try suspected terrorists.
Colorado’s U.S. Senate delegation responded positively.
Republican Wayne Allard said he was “pleased to hear the president is taking the next step in managing the enemy combatants captured in the war on terrorism,” adding that he would support “viable legislation to have a military commission resolve these cases.”
Ken Salazar, a Democrat, said Bush’s plan “to move detainees from CIA facilities abroad into the military-justice system is a step in the right direction.”
After refusing for months to confirm media reports of secret CIA prisons, revelations that some Republicans likened to treason, Bush pulled the lid off a CIA program intended to extract information from “high-value” terrorism suspects.
His narrative of the CIA’s interrogation efforts gave him a chance to highlight some of the administration’s successes in the war on terrorism two months before November’s congressional elections, in which Republicans are emphasizing their tough approach to national security.
The CIA’s captives included Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Sept. 11 mastermind, and Ramzi Binalshibh, another suspected Sept. 11 plotter, as well as others linked to the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 and bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
Relatives of 9/11 victims applauded and cheered when Bush declared his intention to bring the 14 top terrorist suspects to trial “as soon as Congress acts” on his plan for military tribunals.
In addition to the potential political benefits, Bush had other reasons to make the program public. A Supreme Court ruling in June struck down the administration’s plan to bring terrorist suspects before military tribunals and called into question the legality of secret CIA detentions.
The court said Bush needed congressional approval to establish the tribunals and that terrorist suspects are entitled to basic protections under the Geneva Conventions governing treatment of wartime captives.
Lawyers for detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and civil-liberties groups called Bush’s revelation an effort to stiff-arm Congress and score political points.
“We want nothing more than for detainees to be charged or released,” said Anna Cayton-Holland, a Denver-based civil rights lawyer representing four detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
The danger is that Bush will force Congress into making hasty “back-of-the-napkin” changes in detainee treatment that threatens constitutional traditions, she said. “I don’t see why the court system we used to try Timothy McVeigh isn’t good enough.”
Bush insisted that the CIA hasn’t engaged in torture but said the Geneva Conventions’ prohibition of “humiliating and degrading treatment” could cause legal problems for CIA interrogators.
Denver Post staff writer Bruce Finley contributed to this report.
Military commissions
President Bush is asking Congress to pass administration-drafted legislation authorizing the use of military commissions for trials of terrorism suspects. The bill would:
Authorize the defense secretary to convene military commissions to try “alien unlawful enemy combatants,” including accused members of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Each commission would have five members, plus a military judge who would preside and decide questions of law and admissibility of evidence.
Define unlawful enemy combatant as an individual affiliated with a force or organization “engaged in hostilities against the U.S. or its co-belligerents in violation of the law of war.”
Guarantee detainees’ access to counsel before being prosecuted.
Define the international standard of prisoner treatment under the Geneva Conventions as prohibiting cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
Allow reliable hearsay to be used as evidence in court.
Allow the submission of classified evidence “outside the presence of the accused.”
Potentially allow for coerced testimony to be used as evidence. The bill prohibits statements obtained through torture.
Allow final rulings by the commission to be appealed.
