Republicans relived at US detainee deal

Republicans in the US hope that an accord reached between the Bush administration and rebellious Republican senators on the treatment of terror-war detainees means the party can go on a campaign-season offensive on the issue of protecting the country.

The deal, if passed next week by Congress as planned, would end an embarrassing two-week stretch of headlines on Republican infighting and allow President George Bush to begin prosecuting terrorists linked to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“I’m pleased to say that this agreement preserves the single most potent tool we have in protecting America and foiling terrorist attacks,” Bush said after the agreement was announced on one of his top remaining priorities of the year.

The agreement contains concessions by both sides, though the White House yielded ground on two of the most contentious issues: It agreed to drop a provision that would have narrowly interpreted international standards of prisoner treatment and another allowing defendants to be convicted on evidence they never see.

The accord, however, explicitly states that the president has the authority to enforce Geneva Conventions standards and enumerates acts that constitute a war crime, including torture, rape, biological experiments, and cruel and inhuman treatment.

The agreement would grant Congress’ permission for Bush to convene military tribunals to prosecute terrorism suspects, a process the Supreme Court had blocked in June because it had not been authorised by lawmakers.

During those trials, coerced testimony would be admissible if a judge allowed it and if it was obtained before cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment was forbidden by a 2005 law.

Bush wanted to allow all such testimony, while three maverick Republican senators – John McCain, John Warner and Lindsey Graham – had wanted to exclude it.

The central sticking point had been a demand by the three senators that there be no attempt to redefine US obligations under the Geneva Conventions.

Republicans used the deal on detainee treatment to put the heat back on Democrats as lawmakers prepare to leave Washington at the end of the month to campaign for the November 7 mid-term elections.

Republicans are fighting to maintain their majority in Congress by touting their toughness on national security issues, while Democrats are pointing to the violence in Iraq and high cost of the war as Republican blunders.

House Majority Leader John Boehner, a Republican, said Democrats can either work with Republicans to preserve the CIA interrogation program for high-value terrorism suspects or “continue to oppose every responsible effort to provide President Bush with the tools he needs to keep America safe”.

But Democrats have said they support the measure as long as the plan is sound.

“No blank checks, no vague terms,” said Congresswoman Jane Harman, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

Harman, as the panel’s senior Democrat, is one of four members of Congress who had extensive, classified briefings on the CIA detention and interrogation program.

The agreement was hailed by human rights groups and seen by many as the president caving in when his usual Republican support crumbled. But White House officials said the end result includes enough legal protection for the CIA program to continue.

“The program will go forward” and “the men and women who are asked to carry out that programme will have clarity as to the legal standard, will have clear congressional support, and will have legal protections as we ask them to do this difficult work,” said Stephen Hadley, the president’s national security adviser.

After weeks of stalled talks, Senate leaders demanded resolution of the impasse over the detainee legislation. Warner, McCain and Graham met with administration officials throughout the day, finally emerging with agreement in which both sides claimed victory.

Other members had not been briefed and at least one House conservative is likely to oppose the provision requiring evidence be divulged to a defendant, out of concern it could expose classified information.

“We want to have the ability to have these tribunals to prosecute the terrorists who right now are waiting at Guantanamo,” Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said of the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But while a system must be put in place, “we want to do it right”.

The handling of suspects is one of two administration priorities relating to the war on terror. The other involves the president’s request for legislation to explicitly allow wiretapping without a court warrant on international calls and e-mails between suspected terrorists in the US and abroad.

One official said Republicans had narrowed their differences with the White House over that issue, as well, and hoped for an agreement soon.

In its June ruling, the Supreme Court said Bush’s plan for trying terrorism suspects before military tribunals violated the Geneva Conventions and US law.

The court, in a 5-3 ruling, found that Congress had not given Bush the authority to create the special type of military trial and that the president did not provide a valid reason for the new system. The justices also said the proposed trials did not provide for minimum legal protections under international law.

About 450 terrorism suspects, most of them captured in Afghanistan and none of them in the US, are being held by military authorities at Guantanamo Bay. Ten have been charged with crimes.