US policy on terror suspects criticized

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's policies for holding and detaining suspected terrorists came under sharp scrutiny and criticism yesterday after disclosure that the CIA had set up covert prisons in several Eastern European democracies and other countries.

The UN special rapporteur on torture said he would seek more information about the covert prisons, referred to in classified documents as ''black sites."

Congressional Democrats and human rights groups warned that the secret system would damage the US image overseas.

House Democrats said they plan to introduce a motion as early as today to endorse language in the defense spending package written by Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, that would bar cruel and inhuman treatment of prisoners in US custody, including those in CIA hands.

The motion would instruct House conferees to accept McCain's precise measure.

Representative John Murtha, Democrat of Pennsylvania, ranking Democrat on the Appropriations defense subcommittee, urged the United States to adopt a doctrine of ''no torture, no excuses," and said Congress needs to speak on the issue. ''The United States of America and the values we reflect abhor human rights violators and uphold human rights," Murtha said in a statement.

McCain's amendment was endorsed last month by the Senate, 90 to 9, over the objections of the White House, which said the amendment would restrict the president's ability to protect the country. The House Democrats said they have 15 GOP supporters for their motion, and Republicans have told the White House they expect it to pass, an Appropriations Committee spokesman said.

The CIA and the White House are seeking language that would exempt prisoners held by the agency, which would include the 30 or so Al Qaeda prisoners that sources said are being held in the black sites. Neither the White House nor the CIA will officially comment on the secret prison system, but intelligence officials have said in interviews that the arrangement is essential to gaining information about possible terrorist activities.

The Washington Post reported yesterday that the CIA's covert detention system has at times established facilities in eight countries, including, among others, Thailand, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Those facilities are now closed. The Post did not publish the names of Eastern European countries involved in the program, at the request of senior US officials. They argued that doing so could damage counterterrorism efforts in those countries and elsewhere, and could lead to retaliation by terrorists.