WASHINGTON,
Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday signed a bill that
authorizes the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to continue its practice of
questioning terrorism suspects and the prosecution of "captured terrorists" for
war crimes.
"This bill will allow the Central Intelligence Agency
to continue its program for questioning key terrorist leaders and operatives,"
Bush said at the White House before signing into law the Military Commissions
Act of 2006.
Terming the bill as "one of the most important pieces
of legislation in the war on terror," Bush said it allows the United States to
"prosecute captured terrorists for war crimes through a full and fair trial."
The bill provides legal protection ensuring that
American military and intelligence personnel would not have to fear lawsuits
filed by terrorists, simply for doing their jobs, he said.
The president acknowledged several weeks ago that the
CIA had been secretly interrogating some suspected terrorists overseas and asked
for Congress's authority to try them in military commissions.
The spy agency's secret detention facilities
overseas, when revealed last year, caused a political uproar in Washington and
attracted criticism worldwide.
"This program has been one of the most successful
intelligence efforts in American history. It has helped prevent attacks on our
country," Bush insisted.
The CIA program, according to Bush, was "one of the
most vital tools in our war against the terrorists" and "helped us gain vital
intelligence from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, two of the men
believed to have helped plan and facilitate the 9/11 attacks."
While the legislation set the rules for court
proceedings for suspected terrorists, it applied to only those selected by the
military for prosecution. Most of those held by the U.S. military, believed to
be about 14,000 and the majority in Iraq, would not be affected by the law.
Of the hundreds of detainees being jailed at the U.S.
military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, only 10 have been selected for trial.
The indefinite detention of others has been condemned by human rights groups as
violating international law.
Some or all the 14 suspects held by the CIA in secret
prisons and recently transferred to military custody at Guantanamo might also be
tried.
Bush authorized the creation of special military
tribunals for the terrorism suspects months after the Sept. 11 attacks, but the
legality of the system was challenged in U.S. court.
The Supreme Court ruled that the military
commissions, or special military tribunals, needed to be explicitly authorized
by the Congress, Bush said. "And so I asked Congress for that authority, and
they have provided it."
Three weeks before the mid-term congressional
elections, the signing of the bill was believed to be a deliberate move aimed to
shift public attention, at least momentarily, from the scandals that could cost
Republicans their control of Congress. Enditem
CIA chief says over 5,000 terrorists
captured or killed since 9/11
WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- More than 5,000
terrorists have been captured or killed in the 5 years since 9/11 terror
attacks, CIA Director Michael Hayden said Monday.
"Al Qaida's core operational leadership has been
decimated, and their successors are in hiding or on the run, " Hayden said when
he addressed CIA employees at the fifth anniversary of the catastrophic attacks
which claimed nearly 3,000 lives. <<Full Story
Major
terror attacks after Sept. 11, 2001
