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Senators, White House on collision course over tribunals

From Ted Barrett
CNN Washington Bureau

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Senate committee will move forward with a bill that would authorize military tribunals to try suspected terrorists without many of the provisions the Bush administration wants, its chairman said Wednesday.

The bill is backed by the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Sen. John Warner, R-Virginia, and two other prominent Republicans -- John McCain of Arizona and South Carolina's Lindsey Graham. But the White House and the Senate's GOP leadership oppose the measure and back an administration-drafted bill that has raised the concerns of human rights groups and military lawyers.

Warner said his committee will meet at 10:30 a.m. Thursday to take up the bill, which also has the support of many Democrats. That could lead to a floor showdown with the administration-backed measure, an intramural GOP dispute most Republicans would rather not face so close to the November elections. (Watch why the GOP is split over tribunals -- 2:40)

The key difference deals with an administration proposal to make changes involving Article III of the Geneva Conventions, which the White House believes are needed to protect CIA interrogators from being subject to war-crimes prosecutions.

Graham called the revised interpretation of Article III "ill-advised."

"I'm begging we don't cross that line, because we need not to," said Graham, who serves as a judge in the Air Force reserve.

Warner, McCain and Graham oppose the changes because they believe they could lead to Americans captured abroad being denied protections afforded them under the treaty.

Military lawyers also have raised concerns about the administration bill's restrictions on due-process rights for defendants. Prosecutors would be able to present evidence to the tribunal that would be kept secret from the defense and use hearsay and coerced confessions against defendants. Human rights groups have objected to those provisions as well.

Warner's move appears to indicate that lengthy talks with the administration have stalled. The talks, aimed at achieving a unified Republican bill, continued Wednesday after meetings with top administration officials -- including Vice President Dick Cheney -- failed to yield a deal.

The Supreme Court struck down the administration's previous plans for military courts in a June ruling. President Bush announced last week that 14 al Qaeda figures -- including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, reputedly the person who directed the terror network's attacks on New York and Washington -- were transferred to the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to face trial, and he urged Congress to pass legislation that would re-establish the military tribunals that would try them.

Bush's announcement was the administration's first admission that the captives had been held by the CIA in secret facilities overseas and subjected to "alternative" interrogation techniques. But he said those tactics, while "tough," did not amount to torture, as critics have said.

President Obama to present 2013 budget plan today When President Barack Obama rolls out his 2013 budget proposal Monday, it's likely to unleash another round of political finger-pointing on Capitol Hill.

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