Rules for terror suspect trials: Hearsay, coerced testimony OK

January 18, 2007
Rules for terror suspect trials: Hearsay, coerced testimony OK

Last September, Congress — then led by Republicans — sent Bush a new law granting wide
latitude in interrogating and detaining captured enemy combatants. The legislation prohibited some
abuses of detainees, including mutilation and rape, but granted the president leeway to decide
which interrogation techniques were permissible.

Passage of the bill, which was backed by the White House, followed more than three months of
debate that included angry complaints by Democrats about the administration's interrogation
policies, and a short-lived rebellion by some Republican senators.