July 22, 2007	Sunday	Rajab 06, 1428

WASHINGTON, July 21: US President Bush signed an order on Saturday that allows the CIA to resume some of the harsh interrogation methods it has used against terrorism suspects.

The order, however, prohibits techniques that had caused an international outcry, including sexual humiliation and the denigration of religious symbols.

The executive order followed months of legal haggling in the government over how to comply with laws barring mistreatment of detainees and a US Supreme Court ruling last year that the government has to treat terrorism prisoners in accordance with the Geneva Convention.

The document also enables the spy agency to continue to operate under special rules that set it apart from other government agencies.

“On Feb 7, 2002, I determined for the United States that members of Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated forces are unlawful enemy combatants who are not entitled to the protections that the Third Geneva Convention provides to prisoners of war,” said Mr Bush. “I hereby reaffirm that determination.”

The order places no restriction on employing coercive methods — such as sleep deprivation and the use of so-called stress positions — that are expressly off-limits for the military and domestic law enforcement agencies. Amnesty International described the new order as a “positive move” which ends sexual and religious humiliation but said that “the places where (the document) is silent speak volumes.”

“I hereby determine that a programme of detention and interrogation approved by the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency fully complies with the obligations” of US laws prohibiting cruel and inhuman treatment of prisoners, Mr Bush declared.

The interrogation practices can be used with an Al Qaeda or Taliban suspect who may possess information that could prevent terrorist attacks and could help locate the senior leadership of Al Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces.