WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The White House and several key Senators on Thursday reached a compromise on the proposed detainee treatment legislation, ending a Republican internal conflict ahead of the November elections.

    The agreement was reached after negotiations between U.S. President George W. Bush's national security adviser Stephen Hadley and Republican heavyweights in the Senate who opposed Bush's original plan for the detainee legislation, according to CNN Television.

    Senator John McCain, one of the opposers, said the compromise will give Bush the tools he needs to continue to fight the war on terror while preserving "integrity and spirit of the Geneva Conventions."

    Insiders said under the agreement, the government agreed to drop language that would have claimed existing U.S. interrogation policy has met Geneva Convention obligations.

    In return, opposers agreed to clarify what acts constitute a war crime.

    The conflict between Bush and key Senate Republicans on the detainee issue was highlighted last week when a Senate panel adopted a bill acknowledging the legal rights of detained terror suspects and calling for accordance with the Geneva Convention.

    The president's proposal on the legislation is much harsher than the Senate bill, allowing classified evidence to be withheld from defendants in terror trials, using coerced testimony and protecting U.S. interrogators against legal prosecution for using methods that violate the Geneva Conventions.

    But the Senate bill resisted Bush's bid to redefine the Geneva Conventions' standards for humane treatment of prisoners, which Bush had said was essential to continue the CIA's program to get valuable information from detainees.

    The move was also seen as Republican internal fight since it was pushed by three Republican Senates, including panel chairman John Warner, Republican heavyweights John McCain and Lindsey Graham. Enditem