A combative US Attorney General, Mr John Ashcroft, yesterday robustly defended new emergency powers taken by President Bush in the face of Senate questioning of the President's unilateral authority. "Charges of kangaroo courts and shredding of constitutional rights are giving new meaning to the 'fog of war'," he said in a swipe at what he claimed were inaccurate media reports of the measures.
Appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr Ashcroft insisted the power to establish military commissions to try non-citizens involved in acts of war against the US arose both from the President's constitutionally enshrined authority to wage war and from statute-based authority conferred on him by Congress under the military code.
Meanwhile, in the House of Lords, a series of defeats for the British government's proposed hard-line anti-terrorism Bill, brought pressure on the Home Secretary, Mr David Blunkett, to tone it down.
Conservatives and Liberal Democrats joined forces to defeat the government - by 227 votes to 145 - over Mr Blunkett's plan to extend police powers to investigate personal data under cover of the fight against terrorism.
The government was facing further defeats on key issues in the anti-terror bill as the Home Secretary battled to have the passage of the legislation completed by the end of next week.
In Washington, Mr Ashcroft refused to be drawn on the procedures to be adopted by the military commissions, saying they would be "full and fair".
They would only involve non-citizens and only try war crimes. All the measures taken, he said, fully respected the constitution. He anticipated that the rules of procedure would be like those in the International Court in The Hague.
Senator Ted Kennedy (Dem, Massachusetts) said he was "profoundly concerned" by the potential for abuse of the new powers.