Congress Sends Bush Terror Tribunal Bill

President Bush, right, accompanied by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tenn. speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2006 after meeting with the Senate Republican Conference. The president urged the Senate on follow the House's lead and approve a White House plan for detaining and interrogating terrorism suspects, saying, "The American people need to know we're working together to win the war on terror." (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) (Charles Dharapak - AP)

WASHINGTON -- Congress sent President Bush a bill Friday that endorses his plan to interrogate and prosecute terror suspects, legislation Republicans hope will win them political points on the campaign trail.

Once Bush signs it, which he was expected to do very soon, the military can begin prosecuting terror suspects.

Many Democrats opposed the legislation because they said it eliminated rights of defendants considered fundanamental to American values, such as a person's ability to protest court detention and the use of coerced tesimony as evidence.

The House had already voted this week, 253-168, endorsing Bush's plan for military detainees. The Senate passed a nearly identical bill Thursday by a 65-34 vote. Rather than reconcile the technical differences between the two bills, the House voted 250-170 to send the Senate version to the president to sign.

The legislation, which sets the rules for court proceedings, would only apply to those selected by the military for prosecution and leaves mostly unaffected the majority of the 14,000 prisoners in U.S. custody, most of whom are in Iraq. The bill would protect detainees from blatant abuses _ such as rape, torture and "cruel and inhuman" treatment _ but does not require that each of them be granted legal counsel and specifically bars detainees from protesting their detentions in federal courts.

The Penatgon had previsouly selected 10 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay prison to be tried and Bush is expected also to try some or all of the 14 suspects held by the CIA in secret prisons and recently transferred to military custody at Guantanamo.

The vote was considered a major election-season victory for Bush and Republicans, who will likely try to spin Democrats' opposition as being soft on terrorists.

While Bush can count on Congress for the sort of military tribunals he wants, the White House likely will have to await a lame duck session after the election to get authorization for warrantless wiretaps.

The White House failed to help bridge differences between the Senate and the House on the eavesdropping program. The House, on a 232-191 vote Thursday, approved a bill to grant legal status to the warrantless wiretapping program with new restrictions. The Senate bill was different enough that efforts to reach a compromise on the two measures was unlikely before the elections.

Most Democrats opposed the detainee bill, contending that Republicans were pushing through a sloppy measure to sell voters, but not because it made sense.

GOP policies on national security "may have been tough, but they certainly weren't smart," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

But Republicans said passage of the bill would withstand court scrutiny and the test of time.