Washington - Seeking to blunt criticism of the US war on terror, President George W Bush said Wednesday that 14 top al-Qaeda suspects had been moved from secret CIA prisons to military detention and would be protected by the Geneva Conventions.
Bush, in a speech from the White House, said the detainees being transferred to the Guantanamo Bay centre in Cuba included Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States.
It was the first time the Bush administration has acknowledged the existence of the CIA operation, which became public through media reports. Bush defended the secret prisons, saying interrogations of the suspects helped thwart terrorist attacks.
'In these cases, it has been necessary to move these individuals to an environment where they can be held secretly,' Bush said.
Bush said his administration will attempt to try Mohammed and other suspects in custody, including alleged September 11 plotter Ramzi Binalshibh and former al-Qaeda military chief Abu Zubaydah.
'We intend to prosecute these men as appropriate for their crimes,' he said.
The secret CIA operation and the Guantanamo facility, where detainees are held indefinitely, have sparked international outrage, accusations of human rights abuses and challenges in US courts.
Bush defended Guantanamo, saying it was only for holding the most dangerous terrorists who continued to pose a threat to the world.
'We have in place a rigorous process to ensure those held at Guantanamo Bay belong at Guantanamo,' he said. 'They are in our custody so that they cannot murder our people.'
Bush's announcement came days before the nation marks five years since al-Qaeda suicide pilots slammed planes into the World Trade Centre's twin towers and the Pentagon, causing nearly 3,000 deaths.
'We're now approaching the five-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and the families of those murdered that day have waited patiently for justice,' he said. 'Some of the families are with us today. They should have to wait no longer.'
In an effort to bolster the legality of US measures in the war on terror, Bush said he was proposing legislation to comply with a US Supreme Court ruling in June that said the military commissions he ordered to try terrorist suspects were unconstitutional.
Bush also urged the US Congress to enact 'clear rules' on which interrogation practices are allowed.
The main reason, he argued, was because the Geneva Conventions were too broadly worded and might expose US interrogators to war crimes prosecutions abroad.
'This is unacceptable,' said Bush, who renewed earlier pledges that he had not endorsed any methods involving torture.
'The United States does not torture, it's against our laws and it's against our values,' Bush said. 'I have not authorized it and I will not authorize it.'
Bush said when suspects like Zubaydah and Mohammed refused to answer questions, 'an alternative set of procedures' was employed during interrogations, but he did not reveal the methods.
'I can say the procedures were tough and they were safe and lawful and necessary,' he said.
In related shift for the Bush administration, the Pentagon issued new rules of conduct Wednesday stating that all prisoners under military control are protected by the Geneva Conventions.
That would now include Mohammed, Binalshibh and 12 other 'most dangerous' terrorist suspects who Bush said had been transferred to Guantanamo, where about 450 detainees remain locked up.
Bush has been under international pressure and has faced severe criticism for holding detainees indefinitely at Guantanamo. Outrage grew when the Washington Post reported last year that the CIA was operating secret prisons in Europe.
The Pentagon unveiled two documents today - revised broad standards for treatment of US detainees and a new Army field manual - in response to reported abuses during the war on terror, including the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq.
Cully Stimson, a US deputy assistant secretary of defense, said the main manual resulted from a year of debate in the US government.
It sets out guidelines for 'safe, secure and humane detention' and also applies to detainees whom the US considers so-called unlawful combatants, notably suspects in the war on terror held at Guantanamo.
The main manual includes bans on 'cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment' of detainees and for the first time in US military history sets 'a minimum standard for the care and treatment of all detainees,' Stimson told reporters.
Lieutenant General John Kimmons said the bans apply to eight specific practices. They include forcing detainees to be naked or perform sexually suggestive acts during interrogations.
Placing hoods on detainees, conducting mock executions and simulating drowning - known as water-boarding - are also prohibited.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
