WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. President Bush Wednesday announced 14 al-Qaida ringleaders including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, are being transferred to Guantanamo Bay for prosecution.
In a speech delivered in the East Room of the White House, Bush also said he is sending Congress legislation to authorize the creation of military commissions to try terror suspects for war crimes.
The action is seen as significant in light of the Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that declared the administration's previous efforts at setting up tribunals unconstitutional.
Bush said Mohammed, the believed ringleader of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and 13 others were among prisoners held at secret locations in CIA custody. After questioning, the others were sent back to their native countries for prosecution.
Bush denied any of the prisoners had been abused.
"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," Bush said.
The U.S. Army earlier issued a revised field manual eliminating a secret list of prisoner interrogation techniques, reverting to Geneva Conventions policies.
The new manual bans practices that came to light in 2004 at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, where military dogs were used to frighten prisoners, inmates were kept in solitary confinement for extended time and dunk-tanks were used to simulate drowning, the report said.
