Bush Admits Secret CIA Prisons Exist

Fourteen suspects, including the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and men said to be directly responsible for the bombings of the USS Cole and American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, have been transported to the U.S. detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for trial.

“This program has been, and remains, one of the most vital tools in our war against the terrorists,” Bush said Wednesday.
  
“Were it not for this program, our intelligence community believes that al-Qaida and its allies would have succeeded in launching another attack against the American homeland.”

Bush says the capture of one terror suspect shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks led to the arrest of another suspect, which helped to thwart attacks involving planes, car bombs and anthrax.

This admission comes as the fifth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon approaches. Bush is urging Congress to quickly pass proposed legislation authorizing the use of military commissions for trials for terror suspects. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court said the Bush administration’s plan for trying suspects at the tribunals violated American and international law.

The United Nations had earlier called for the closure of alleged U.S. secret prisons and Guantanamo Bay. There are claims that the CIA prisons didn’t allow monitoring for abuses.

“I cannot describe the specific methods used — I think you understand why,” Bush said.

“I want to be absolutely clear with our people, and the world: The United States does not torture.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Democrats are calling for the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, claiming he mishandled the war in Iraq, mismanaged to detainee system and failed to prosecute terrorists.