Ridge: Detainees deserved due process

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge says the United States was wrong not to give terror suspects due process protections.

Speaking on the BBC's 'World Today" program, the former Pennsylvania governor and first federal homeland security chief said he accepts some of the criticisms levied in a recent report International Commission of Jurists.

The group's report found that the U.S. treatment of detainees undermined international law.

" When you are taking upon (yourself) the responsibility to prevent acts I think you do need to engage in slightly different tactics in order to ensure that it happens," Ridge told the British network.

He said the commission was on "solid ground" in its commentary "with regard to torture and sustained detention without due process." He added that regardless of what terror suspects are accused of doing, they deserve "some sense of due process."

"It has taken a while for us to get to that point but we are certainly there now," he said.