International

Bush confirms prison network

Suzanne Goldenberg

No indication of CIA shutting down its detention centres

Washington: U.S. President George Bush acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday the existence of a secret CIA prison network and said the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks and other high-value detenus had been transferred to Guantanamo Bay.

In a defence of the detention regime that has brought condemnation around the world, he said Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the Al-Qaeda lieutenant believed to have orchestrated the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and 13 other terror suspects had been sent to Guantanamo.

He said the detenus would be placed under military custody until they were brought to trial before highly controversial military tribunals.

Mr. Bush said the disclosure on the whereabouts of Mohammed, captured in Pakistan in 2003, was required to begin the process of bringing him to trial. He went on to call on Congress to enact legislation setting up military commissions for the detenus at Guantanamo.

Two other suspects previously held in secret by the CIA were also identified: Ramzi Binalshibh, a would-be hijacker, and Abu Zubaydah, believed to be the most senior Al-Qaeda leader in U.S. custody. Mr. Bush said their detention and interrogation in the secret network of CIA prisons over the last five years had been invaluable in the war on terror. He also gave no indication that the CIA would shut down its detention centres.

Source of information

``The most important source of information on where the terrorists are hiding and what they are planning is the terrorists themselves,'' Mr. Bush said. ``It has been necessary to move these individuals to an environment where they can be held in secret, questioned by experts and, when appropriate, prosecuted for terrorist acts.''

The announcement that the 14 prisoners would be moved from CIA prisons to Guantanamo frustrates hopes that the detention camp there would be shut down. The President has said repeatedly in the face of international criticism that he would like to see its eventual closure.

He also signalled that the White House would continue to press Congress for a version of the military tribunals struck down by the Supreme Court last June.

``One of the most important tasks is for Congress to recognise that we need the tools necessary to win this war on terror and we'll continue to discuss with Congress ways to make sure that this nation is capable of defending herself,'' he told reporters after an earlier Cabinet meeting.

The White House had sought to try the prisoners at Guantanamo at military tribunals under which suspects would not have the right to attend legal hearings, or to hear evidence against them. The Supreme Court ruled the tribunals violated the Geneva conventions and international standards for due process.

Mr. Bush's speech brought the fullest indication since then of the administration's intentions towards the 450 detenus in the wake of that verdict and a groundswell of criticism of Guantanamo. It comes as he has sought to sharpen the focus on national security before November's congressional elections.

Ewen MacAskill reports:

The Bush administration's claim that Americans are now safer from terrorism has been undermined by a poll on Wednesday showing a significant jump in the number of Americans and Europeans concerned about Islamist extremism and other global threats.

Document on terrorism

The survey, published days before the fifth anniversary of 9/11, is at odds with a Bush administration document on terrorism on Tuesday that insisted: ``America is safer, but we are not yet safe.''

The annual Transatlantic Trends survey, conducted in the U.S. and 12 European countries, records that concern among Americans has risen from 72 per cent last year to 79 per cent this year, and among Europeans from 58 per cent to 66 per cent.

Concern is expressed in the poll on both sides of the Atlantic, not only about global terrorism and Islamist fundamentalism but the Iraq war, immigration, global warming, the Iraq conflict and confrontation with Iran. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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