White House offers revised CIA interrogation plan

WASHINGTON, Sep 19 (Reuters) Seeking to quell an uprising over its legislation on the treatment of foreign terrorism suspects, the White House has offered a revised plan to three Republican senators who charge that its bill would subject suspects to abusive interrogations and unfair trials.

''Our commitment to finding a resolution is real and that's why we're going to be sharing some language because we are eager to find a resolution,'' White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said yesterday.

Republican Sens. John Warner, John McCain and Lindsey Graham were to get the latest proposal on President George W Bush's bill, and were expected to comment on it today, said John Ulyott, Warner's spokesman.

While the senators had several differences with Bush's plan, an administration official said the new proposal dealt only with the main sticking point of Bush's demand that Congress more narrowly define protections for prisoners under the Geneva Conventions.

Bush insists this is necessary to get information from ''high-value'' detainees, while the senators said it would allow interrogations that violate international standards.

Meanwhile the House of Representatives postponed to next week a vote on Bush's bill as Republicans tried to avoid a showdown that could derail Republicans' efforts to depict themselves as stronger than Democrats on fighting terrorism before November 7 congressional elections.

Bush, who has come under fire for harsh treatment of detainees at the Guantanamo prison and abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, needs Congress to approve a system to try suspects mostly picked up in the Afghanistan war after the Supreme Court struck down his original plan.

HOUSE WAITS The House put off floor action to next week on Bush' bill ''only because the Judiciary Committee requested an opportunity to review the criminal code provisions and habeas corpus provisions,'' said Kevin Madden, spokesman for House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio.

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