WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush has for the first time confirmed the existence of secret CIA prisons for suspected terrorists, and defended tough interrogations branded as torture by human rights groups.Bush told reporters late Wednesday that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected architect of the September 11 attacks, and 13 other top Al-Qaeda suspects had been moved to the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba from secret overseas detention centres.The aim was to prepare them for trial by military commissions, he said in his speech intended for lawmakers at the US Congress which is still considering his proposal to create such commissions to try terror suspects."It has been necessary to move these individuals to an environment where they can be held in secret, questioned by experts and, when appropriate, prosecuted for terrorist acts," he told reporters at the White House."As soon as Congress acts to authorize the military commissions I have proposed, the men our intelligence officials believe orchestrated the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001 can face justice," Bush said.Michael Hayden was Bush's first indication that he knew that the US Central Intelligence Agency covertly held prisoners in overseas camps, reports of which had been publicly denied by many of the countries involved.The US president also defended the interrogation tactics used by the CIA."I cannot describe the specific methods used," because that might help the suspects, Bush said. "But I can say the procedures were tough, and they were safe, and lawful, and necessary."Critics have claimed CIA agents used techniques tantamount to torture such as simulated drowning, and exposing prisoners to extremes of temperature as well as sensory deprivation.Human Rights Watch spokesman Kenneth Roth called Bush's speech "a full-throated defense of the CIA detention program and of the 'alternative procedures' -- read: torture -- that the CIA has used to extract information from detainees."But the international Red Cross, the only agency allowed to carry out confidential checks on detainees in Guantanamo, said they would be allowed to visit the 14 terror suspects being transferred to the base."We have had confirmation that we will be able to visit them in Guantanamo Bay," said Antonella Notari, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva.The 14 suspects included Mohammed; Abu Zubaydah, thought to be a top aide to Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden; and presumed September 11 conspirator Ramzi bin al-Shibh.Also among them was Hambali, allegedly a key member of the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) extremist network blamed for numerous Indonesian bomb attacks, including the October 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people.Bush stressed all the detainees "will be presumed innocent" but added "they are in our custody so that they cannot murder our people."With the transfer of the 14 suspects, Bush said the secret CIA program now holds no prisoners but will be kept operational in order to continue to detain and interrogate suspected extremists captured in the global war on terrorism.The US president acknowledged that the CIA prisons, the detentions at Guantanamo, and aggressive interrogation tactics had in some cases soured US relations with key allies.Jose Antonio Rodrigues"I want to be absolutely clear with our people and the world: The United States does not torture. It's against our laws and it's against our values. I have not authorized it and I will not authorize it," he stressed.He also rejected calls to shut down the Guantanamo detention center, which holds roughly 445 prisoners plus the 14 transferred from CIA custody.Bush was giving the third of a series of speeches on the war on terrorism ahead of the November 7 legislative elections, which some in his party fear will be dominated by the unpopular war in Iraq.Democrats in Congress called Bush's speech a political ploy."This administration made us a promise five years ago, that they would do everything they could to make our homeland safer, but it is shocking that even the clear and necessary recommendations made by the non-partisan 9/11 commission still remain unfulfilled," said Senator Charles Schumer of New York.
