President George W Bush defended the government's treatment of detainees after a media allegation that the CIA has run secret jails in Eastern Europe.
This comes as the Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider a challenge to the Bush administration's military tribunals for foreign terror suspects.
Justices will decide whether Osama bin Laden's former driver can be tried for war crimes before military officers in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to Panama, President Bush said, "We do not torture."
The President went on to say that enemies were plotting to hurt the US and that the government would pursue them, but would do so "under the law".
The court's pending intervention heaps additional woes on the Bush administration, which has already reportedly suffered one set of losses at the Supreme Court and has been hammered by international criticism of its detention policies.
The White House has not neither denied nor confirmed Washington Post claims that the CIA set up a covert prison network in Eastern Europe and Asia to hold high-profile terror suspects following the 11 September 2001 attacks.
About 30 detainees, according to the Post -- considered major terrorism suspects -- were held at these "black sites", although the centers have now been closed, the paper reported.
On Sunday, the United Nations' urged European officials to conduct high-level investigations into the allegations.
"Our country is at war and our government has the obligation to protect the American people," Bush said.
The court will hear arguments in the case in March or April, with a decision expected by June.
-- Compiled from wire reports
FEATURES 
