BUSH REVERSES: AL QAEDA To Get Geneva Convention Rights!!!

BUSH REVERSES: AL QAEDA To Get Geneva Convention Rights!!!

High-Value Detainees Will Be Given Prisoner-of-War Status
President Bush Expected to Announce Major Reversal in Handling of Terror Suspects
By JONATHAN KARL
Sept. 6, 2006 — - ABC News has learned that President Bush will announce that high-value detainees now being held at secret CIA prisons will be transferred to the Department of Defense and granted protections under the 1949 Geneva Conventions. It will be the first time the Administration publicly acknowledges the existence of the prisons.

A source familiar with the president's announcement says it will apply to all prisoners now being held by the CIA, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept.11 attacks, and senior al Qaeda leader Ramzi Binalshibh.

The source says there are "about a dozen" prisoners now being held by the CIA.


Until now, the U.S. government has not officially acknowledged the existence of CIA prisons.


The Bush administration has come under harsh criticism for its handling of detainees captured in the U.S.-led military campaign to root out al Qaeda terror cells abroad.

Many detainees have been given the legal status of "enemy combatant," which includes both lawful enemy combatants and unlawful enemy combatants.

Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures

[link to abcnews.go.com]