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Bush threatens to veto interrogation bill

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush Friday threatened to scrub U.S. intelligence efforts to question al-Qaida captives unless Congress passes clarifying legislation.

Bush said it is unfair to expect U.S. intelligence workers to go forward with the program without a clear indication of what is legal and what is illegal. He said such ambiguity could leave intelligence operatives open to war crimes prosecution.

Bush's remarks came during a White House news conference, just one day after the Senate Armed Services committee passed its own version of the legislation, backed by a group of Republicans, including Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a leading contender for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination and a former Vietnam prisoner of war.

The administration says it is trying to clarify Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which prohibits any acts that impinge on human dignity. Opponents of the measure, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell, said any action could come back to haunt U.S. troops captured by enemy forces.

"They're not going forward with the program unless there's clarity in the law," Bush said. "Congress has got a decision to make: Do you want the program to go forward or not. I strongly recommend that we go forward."

Bush not planning to meet Iran's leader

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush said one of his main objectives in addressing the United Nations next week is to keep the world from allowing Iran to stall.

Bush said he has no plans to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad even though both of them will be in New York next week for the parley.

Bush said Iran must be convinced to sit down to negotiations in good faith but the United States will not have any contact with the regime until Tehran agrees to give up its uranium enrichment program.

The U.N. Security Council is nearly unanimous in its opposition to Iran's nuclear program.

"My concern is that they'll stall. They'll try to wait us out. Part of my objective in New York is to remind people stalling shouldn't be allowed," Bush said.

"We're firmly committed in our desire to send a common signal."

Harsh interrogation threatens Padilla case

MIAMI, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- A terror conspiracy case in Miami could decide whether intelligence obtained during harsh interrogation sessions is admissible in U.S. courts.

The case involves Jose Padilla who was arrested in 2002 by federal agents in Chicago on grounds he was plotting to build and detonate a dirty bomb in the United States.

The information that led to Padilla's arrest came from Zayn Abu Zubaydah, identified by President Bush as the first al-Qaida suspect subjected to harsh interrogation, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

In a series of pretrial motions, lawyers for Padilla argued information from Zubaydah and other confidential sources was obtained by torture and therefore cannot be used in court.

They also contend any evidence seized from Padilla during his Chicago arrest must be excluded from use at trial.

Both motions are currently on appeal to U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke, the trial judge in the Padilla case.

Pope speech draws Muslim ire

VATICAN CITY, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict XVI is drawing growing criticism from Muslim leaders for a speech in Germany in which he quoted historical sources to denounce jihad in Islam.

The criticisms have not stopped despite clarification from the Vatican that the pontiff did not intend to offend Muslims when he quoted a 14th-century Christian emperor to say Islam's concept of holy war is a violation of God's will and nature.

In a resolution Friday, Pakistan's parliament said the pope had made "derogatory" comments and urged they be retracted, reports the BBC.

In Egypt, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood was quoted as saying the remarks had "aroused the anger of the whole Islamic world."

In India, which has the world's third-largest Muslim population, Minority Commission Chairman Hamid Ansari said: "The language used by the pope sounds like that of his 12th-century counterpart who ordered the crusades ..."

In Turkey, which Benedict is scheduled to visit in November, the Muslim country's top religious official Ali Bardakoglu demanded an apology from the Vatican head.

Separately, The Los Angeles Times reported that other Muslim leaders had remarked that Catholicism has a bloodstained past arising from the forced conversions of Jews and Muslims in Medieval times. Some also recalled Vatican's alleged relationship with Adolf Hitler.

Hundreds flee Calif. and Mont. wildfires

NAPA, Calif., Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Fire officials have evacuated hundreds of people from their homes as wildfires raged through Northern California and Montana.

A Napa Fire Department spokesman said 130 homes have been evacuated near two fires that have razed nearly 51,000 acres in the area surrounding Weaverville, Calif., and 260 other homes were put on a 48-hour alert to be prepared for possible evacuation, USA Today reported Friday.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Forest Service said 325 homes have been emptied as the massive Jungle Fire expanded to encompass 32,000 acres.

Rain and snow assisted firefighters in Montana Thursday but cooler weather in California failed to comfort those battling fires in the north. Rick Ochoa, weather program manager for the National Interagency Fire Center, said the fire season in California could last into December.

"What we really need for California is a good, strong, soaking rain over that area, and we don't see that occurring," he said.

The fire center said the 2006 season has been the worst seen by the United States in nearly 50 years in terms of acres burned.