Bush urges senators to send him detainee bill

WASHINGTON, Sep 28 (Reuters) US President George W Bush gave Senate Republicans a pre-election pep talk today as he stressed the need for new rules for interrogations and trials of foreign terrorism suspects in legislation the Senate was expected to send him before day's end.

''People shouldn't forget there's still an enemy out there that wants to do harm to the United States, and therefore a lot of my discussion with the members of the Senate was to remind them of this solemn responsibility,'' Mr Bush said after meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

''And so I look forward to you passing good legislation, senators,'' he said.

Marking a major win for Bush on a national security issue before the November seven mid-term election, the House of Representatives passed the bill on detainee treatment yesterday and the Senate was expected to follow today.

The bill sets standards for interrogations of suspects, but through a complex set of rules that human rights groups said could allow harsh techniques such as sleep deprivation and prolonged time in stress positions.

It gives defendants access to classified evidence being used to convict them, and allows limited use of evidence obtained by coercion. The bill also expands the definition of those deemed ''enemy combatants'' to include those who provide weapons, money and other support to terrorist groups.

Senate Republicans first were working to beat an amendment pushed by fellow Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania to restore rights of detainees being held without charges to challenge their detentions at the US prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Specter, the Judiciary Committee chairman, said the right to challenge the legality of detention was fundamental in American law, and that the Supreme Court would reject this plan if it were stripped.

Republicans also were expected to defeat other changes pushed by Democrats, who charged that the bill still fell far short of fair judicial standards and would spark more international outrage at the US treatment of detainees since the September. 11 attacks.

If the amendments are defeated, the bill will be sent quickly to Mr Bush for his signature.

Bush called the bill ''a very vital piece of legislation that will give us the tools necessary to protect the American people.'' He said it would ''give us the capacity to be able to interrogate high-valued detainees and at the same time give us the capacity to try people ... in our military tribunals.'' Bush managed to transform a series of setbacks into an apparent victory on an issue Republicans intend to use in campaigns for the November election to determine control of Congress.

The Supreme Court in June struck down as illegal Bush's system of military commissions to try suspects, leaving the process in limbo with no successful prosecutions since the September. 11 attacks.

Mr Bush then faced a rebellion in his own ranks over his revised plan that three leading Republican senators contended would allow abusive interrogations and unfair trials.

After a high-stakes negotiation, Bush got most of what he wanted to continue the once-secret CIA program of aggressive interrogations of suspects that critics said bordered on torture.

Passage of the detainee bill before the election was a top priority for Republicans, but they failed on another -- enacting legislation to authorize Bush's warrantless domestic spying program.

During his meeting with senators, Bush urged them to reach agreement with the House and pass such legislation when they return in November after the election, lawmakers said.

REUTERS