“We can't place our interrogators in jeopardy with nebulous language," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a statement, arguing for the administration's policy. "Yet that's what some advocate - their definitions [of torture] could be affected by the whims of foreign courts, not the principles of American law.”

Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, said it is important to give interrogators clear direction on what they can and cannot do, but there is no reason to treat terrorists the same as uniformed enemy soldiers.

“They want to destroy on the fringes; they want to kill kids; they want to blow up tall office buildings and kill thousands of people inside them,” Cannon said. “They're not signers on the Geneva Conventions. They cut our guys' heads off on video. . . . These are not guys who are constrained by civilized processes.”

The debate has caused a standoff between the White House and three key Republican leaders - Arizona Sen. John McCain, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner of Virginia - who have argued that the White House is trying to extend the limits of treatment allowed under the Geneva Conventions.

Doing so, they say, is contrary to American values and could expose captured American troops to torture, as well.

A compromise offer from the Bush administration was sent to senators Monday, and Warner said he is optimistic they could reach an accord.

Common Article 3 of the Conventions, which the U.S. ratified in 1955, prohibits “cruel treatment and torture” and “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment.”

In July, the Supreme Court ruled that Common Article 3 covers high-level terrorist captives as well as ordinary prisoners of war.

Bush says the language in the convention is so vague that clearer guidance is needed on what types of “alternate interrogation techniques” are permitted so interrogators need not fear being charged with war crimes.

“It's a debate that really is going to define whether or not we can protect ourselves,” Bush said. “If our professionals don't have clear standards in the law, the [interrogation] program is not going to go forward. You cannot ask a young intelligence officer to violate the law.”

Retired Brig. Gen. David Irvine, now a lawyer in Salt Lake, says that is a bogus rationale.

“Until Iraq, no one had any trouble understanding the spirit and literal intent” of Common Article 3, Irvine said in an e-mail. “The White House is arguing for the power to descend into barbarism - and there should be no doubt that this is exactly where the CIA has been operating lately.”

Irvine was one of more than three dozen retired officers, civilian military leaders and diplomatic officials who wrote to senators last week urging them not to dilute the protections afforded by the Geneva Conventions.

In a separate letter last week, retired general and former Secretary of State Collin Powell wrote that “the world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism. To redefine Common Article 3 would add to those doubts. Furthermore, it would put our own troops at risk.”

Hatch said, “With so many Americans risking their lives to conduct a war to keep us safe, I want to make our legal interpretations clear so they can do their jobs legally and morally."

The White House proposal would also allow classified evidence to be withheld from defendants in terrorism trials and allow coerced testimony.

Utah Sen. Bob Bennett said he is listening to dissenting senators on the issue. “I am inclined to support the administration's position on Common Article 3 but am open to and am considering the arguments of Chairman Warner and others, whose opinions I greatly value,” he said.

The House Judiciary Committee, of which Cannon is a member, is expected to act on the Bush administration's proposal today.

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ä THE ASSOCIATED PRESS contributed to this report.

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Optional label:

"With so many Americans risking their lives to conduct a war to keep us safe, I want to make our legal interpretations clear so they can do their jobs legally and morally."

SEN. ORRIN HATCH

R-Utah