Bush hints at more legal rights for Camp X-Ray prisoners

In what could be seen as a concession to international opinion, President Bush said yesterday that he is now discussing what legal provisions of the Geneva Convention may apply to the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. But Mr Bush reiterated that his administration has no intention of changing the status of the 158 detainees and treating them as prisoners of war.

"These are killers," said Mr Bush during a joint press conference with the Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai. "We are not going to call them prisoners of war." Mr Bush did refer to the men as "prisoners" but then corrected himself and called them "detainees".

The president spelled out the administration's reasons for the distinction by saying that "the reason why is al-Qaida is not a known military".

"These are killers," Mr Bush said. "These are terrorists. They know no countries. The only thing they know about country is when they find a country that's been weakened and they want to occupy it like a parasite."

However, Mr Bush said he had been having discussions with his national security advisers as to what legal status the men will have. When a decision had been made on this, he said, he would make a statement.

The president said he would listen to "all the legalisms, and announce my decision when I make it".

The White House was at pains yesterday to try to defuse the suggestion of a row between the secretary of state, Colin Powell, and other members of the administration over the treatment of the men at Camp X-Ray. The difference of opinion emerged over the weekend with reports that Mr Powell believed that the detainees should be regarded as prisoners of war, at least until they had appeared in front of a hearing.

The defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has grown increasingly tetchy when questioned about the status of the men. He has said that both al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners were "unlawful combatants" and therefore did not qualify as prisoners of war. If they were accepted as prisoners of war, the men would only have to give their name, rank and number and could not be interrogated. The US position is that it is vital to question the men as they may have knowledge of planned terrorist attacks on the US or elsewhere in the world.

Victoria Clarke, the chief spokeswoman for Mr Rumsfeld, said yesterday that the prisoners were being treated humanely. "We are in very unconventional times," she said. "We're in a very unconventional war. So every aspect of it, including the Geneva Convention and how it might be applied should be looked at with new eyes."

The White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said yesterday that, even if the men were Taliban fighters rather than al-Qaida, they would not qualify for PoW status because the Taliban were only recognised as a legitimate Afghan government by a few countries.

He said that the detainees were being treated well and humanely "because that is what Americans do".

The administration's position has been that the photograph released last week by the Pentagon showing the men in the camp kneeling and blindfolded gave a misleading impression and that the men were being moved at the time and were not kept blindfolded at all times or forced to kneel.

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