Backed by a Republican majority, a controversial bill on the
treatment of detained terror suspects finally passed the US House
of Representatives Wednesday.
The House endorsed the bill by a 253-168 vote after limited
debate, with the Republican majority hoping to send it to US
President George W. Bush before the weekend.
The goal is now within reach as senators have agreed to limit
debate on a similar bill, which is set to pass Senate on Wednesday
or Thursday.
The bill will establish a military court system to prosecute
terror suspects and while granting defendants more legal rights
than they had under the administration's old system, it eliminates
rights usually granted in civilian and military courts.
It also provides extensive definitions of war crimes such as
torture, rape and biological experiments, but gives Bush broad
authority to decide which other techniques US interrogators can
legally use.
The provisions are intended to protect CIA interrogators from
being prosecuted for war crimes.
Human rights groups and many Democrats said the bill gave Bush
too much latitude to allow harsh interrogations and to deprive
detainees of legal rights.
The passage of the bill spelt the end of a pre-election internal
fight within the Republican camp.
For nearly two weeks the GOP have been embarrassed as the White
House and leading Republican senators debated on the content of the
bill.
The two sides reached a compromise last Thursday, and
Republicans are regarding the passage of the bill as a booster for
their effort to cast the party as strong on national security, a
hot issue in the November midterm elections.
(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2006)
