9/11 suspects to face trial

WASHINGTON - In a dramatic announcement five days before the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, President Bush acknowledged Wednesday that he'd authorized a secret CIA detention program and announced plans to bring to trial 14 top terrorist suspects, including some of the alleged architects of the 9/11 conspiracy.

Bush also disclosed that the United States has transferred the 14 suspected top Al-Qaida leaders from secret CIA prisons overseas to Guantanamo Bay to face a proposed military commission.

Among those now being held at the U.S. military base in Cuba is the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington five years ago, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Also dispatched to Guantanamo were two suspected senior aides to Osama bin Laden, Abu Zubaydah and Hambali, and several suspected leaders of Al-Qaida attacks on two U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998 and the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen in 2000.

It was the first time the administration has acknowledged the existence of the CIA facilities, which have drawn widespread condemnation for the suspected use of torture.

It was also the first time that the White House has publicly broached the politically sensitive subject of what it plans to do with Al-Qaida operatives who have been held incommunicado since their capture, in many cases for more than three years.

In his speech at the White House, Bush described the 14 men as having committed "terrible crimes against the American people."

Bush said Sheikh Mohammed and some of the other CIA detainees provided invaluable information in the war on terrorism, helping the United States and its allies to catch other terrorist leaders and disrupt Al-Qaida plots, including some that he said would have been launched on U.S. soil.

The detainees usually gave up such information unwillingly, and often after the CIA used procedures that, while tough, did not amount to torture, Bush said.

Sheikh Mohammed and the others will be given their own defense lawyers, allowed visits by inspectors from the Red Cross and treated the same as the hundreds of other detainees at Guantanamo, albeit in even more secure surroundings, Bush said.

The Defense Department took custody of the 14 CIA prisoners on Sept. 4 at Guantanamo Bay, increasing the prison's detainee population to 455, said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman. He would not say if Sheikh Mohammed and the other detainees would be kept in solitary confinement.

A Supreme Court ruling in June struck down the administration's plan to bring terrorist suspects before military tribunals. The court said Bush needed congressional approval to establish the military tribunals and ruled that terrorist suspects are entitled to basic protections under the Geneva Conventions governing treatment of captives.

'Gross illegalities'

Lawyers for detainees in Guantanamo Bay and civil liberties groups called Bush's announcement a cynical effort to stiff-arm Congress and score political points.

"The president's acknowledgements today do not gloss over the gross illegalities at Guantanamo or in secret CIA prisons," the Center for Constitutional Rights, a group that works with detainees, said in a statement. "The administration must be forced to justify why hundreds of men have been detained in Guantanamo for five years without any hearing."

Bush insisted that the CIA hasn't engaged in torture, but he said that the Geneva Conventions' prohibition against "humiliating and degrading treatment" could potentially cause legal problems for CIA interrogators.

"I want to be absolutely clear with our people and the world: The United States does not torture. It's against our laws, and it's against our values. I have not authorized it -- and I will not authorize it," he said.

However, he added: "Some believe our military and intelligence personnel involved in capturing and questioning terrorists could now be at risk of prosecution under the War Crimes Act -- simply for doing their jobs in a thorough and professional way. This is unacceptable."

'Alternative procedures'

Bush strongly defended the use of "tough" interrogation methods in describing the case of Abu Zubaydah, a suspected Al-Qaida operative who was nursed back to health by the CIA after he was wounded in a firefight. The president said Zubaydah, who's believed to be a trusted Bin Laden associate, resisted questioning until the CIA "used an alternative set of procedures," which Bush declined to specify.

"This is intelligence that cannot be found any other place," Bush said. "And our security depends on getting this kind of information."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said he'd immediately introduce legislation sponsoring the administration's plan for military tribunals. He also left open the possibility of bypassing the Armed Services Committee to expedite bringing the debate to the Senate floor, possibly as soon as next week.

Three leading Republicans on the committee have offered an alternative to Bush's military tribunal plan. They are John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Warner of Virginia, the committee chairman.

Their alternative would prohibit the use of testimony obtained through coercive interrogation, restrict the use of hearsay evidence and give judges the right to decide whether defendants should be allowed to see classified information that could be used against them. Bush opposes those terms.

The L.A. Times and Associated Press contributed to this report. Ron Hutcheson and Margaret Talev are at rhutcheson@mcclatchydc.com and mtalev@mcclatchydc.com.