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US Senate moves to investigate `secret' prisons

The US Senate overwhelmingly demanded that the administration of President George W. Bush give Congress details on allegations that the CIA flew terrorism suspects around the world to a secret network of clandestine prisons.

The Senate voted 82-9 on Thursday to require National Intelligence Director John Negroponte to provide the Senate and House intelligence committees with details of any such activities.

That was a reaction to a Washington Post story from Nov. 2 that said the CIA has had secret prisons for terror detainees in eight countries, including democracies in Eastern Europe. The Bush administration has refused to confirm whether the prisons exist.

Senators also moved to deny detainees at the US Guantanamo Bay prison the right to challenge their detentions with habeas corpus petitions in federal court, a step critics said could undermine efforts to secure their humane treatment.

Separately, the Senate hopes to complete work next week on an overall defense spending bill. It already includes provisions barring abusive treatment of foreign prisoners and standardizing interrogation techniques. Those provisions are also in the separate US$445 billion military spending bill the Senate passed last month.

The White House has threatened to veto any bill with the restrictions on handling detainees, saying that it would limit the president's ability to protect US citizens and prevent a terrorist attack. Vice President Dick Cheney has vigorously lobbied Congress to drop or modify the detainee provisions sponsored by Republican Senator John McCain.

That has set up a rare challenge of the president's wartime authority by members of his own party. The confrontation comes as Bush is under fire for detention policies at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and other facilities.

Democrats and a number of Republicans have rejected Cheney's plan, saying it would be seen as a license for the CIA to engage in torture.
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