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GUEST: Marjorie Cohn, Professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and president-elect of the National Lawyers Guild

As we approach the fifth anniversary of 9/11, President Bush is making a series of public addresses on the so-called war on terror, capitalizing on the tragedy that was used to spur public support for war. This Wednesday during one of his speeches, he acknowledged for the first time that the CIA runs secret prisons overseas. He said tough interrogation forced terrorist leaders to reveal plots to attack the US. Bush also pressed Congress to quickly pass his legislation authorizing the use of military commissions for the trials of terror suspects. The Supreme Court said in June that the Bush Administration’s plan for trying detainees in military tribunals violated US and international law. Bush recently authorized the transfer of 14 so-called “high-value suspects”out of secret CIA prisons to the US-run prison in Guantanamo, Cuba. These suspects apparently include people responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 in Yemen and the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in addition to the 2001 attacks.