US: The White House has offered to compromise on new rules for the treatment and trial of terrorism suspects to try and quell a rebellion among Republican senators who fear the proposals could sanction torture and breach the Geneva conventions.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino confirmed that the administration was working with the Republican rebels, including John McCain and senate armed services committee chairman John Warner, to draft a new bill.
"Our commitment to finding a resolution is real, and that's why we're going to be sharing some language, because we are eager to find a resolution," she said.
The administration's new willingness to compromise came as more Republicans joined the protest against President George Bush's proposal to redefine what constitutes compliance with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which forbids the cruel and inhumane treatment of war prisoners. Critics argue that the move would dilute the Geneva Conventions and encourage other countries to rewrite the rules, possibly putting US soldiers in danger of torture if captured.
The White House and the Republican dissidents also disagree about how much classified evidence should be revealed to accused terrorists and over the admissibility of evidence obtained by coercive means.
Former secretary of state Colin Powell, who has offered public backing to the senate rebels, said yesterday that Mr Bush's proposals would add to growing doubts about whether the US adheres to its own moral code.
"If you just look at how we are perceived in the world and the kind of criticism we have taken over Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib and renditions, whether we believe it or not, people are now starting to question whether we're following our own high standards," he told the Washington Post.
Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice predicted yesterday that Mr Bush and Congress would agree on a Bill that "gives the professionals, the people who actually interrogate, clarity on what is legal and what is not".
The negotiations came as a Canadian government commission criticised Canada and the US over the 2002 deportation to Syria of Maher Arar, a Canadian computer engineer. The commission found that Mr Arar, who was tortured while in Syrian custody, had no links to terrorism and was arrested at New York's JFK airport on the basis of faulty intelligence.
In his report, the head of the commission, Justice Dennis O'Connor, condemned US conduct in what has become one of the most notorious known examples of extraordinary rendition.
"The American authorities who handled Mr Arar's case treated Mr Arar in a most regrettable fashion. They removed him to Syria against his wishes and in the face of his statements that he would be tortured if sent there," Mr O'Connor wrote.