U.S. President George W. Bush (file photo) (epa)
September 15, 2006 -- A U.S. Senate committee has defied President George W. Bush over his plans to put terrorism suspects on trial.
Bush's proposals would allow classified evidence to be withheld from defendants in terror trials, and would protect U.S. interrogators from being prosecuted for war crimes.
But the Senate Armed Services Committee rejected the plan, instead backing a bill drafted by its Republican chairman, John Warner.
"We have tried, those of us [who] have put this draft [legislation] together, to provide language which in no way reflects a basis for anyone to state that the United States is still not observing the Geneva Convention," Warner said.
The move sets the stage for a showdown on the Republican-controlled Senate floor as early as next week.
(AP, AFP, Reuters)