They said Bush's acknowledgment of the program and justification of tough interrogation measures vindicated the worst fears that Washington went way too far in its war on terror.

The US president got strong support from Australia - a staunch supporter of Bush's methods from the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq to long detentions without trial of terrorist suspects.

But the majority of those responding to the Bush speech confirming the existence of the secret prisons were critical.

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The speech "was a full-throated defense of the CIA's detention program," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of New York-based Human Rights Watch. "Although the president adamantly denied that the US government uses torture, [it] has used practices such as `waterboarding' that can only be called torture."

Lawmakers at the European Parliament, meanwhile, demanded the US give locations of detention facilities.

Bush acknowledged for the first time Wednesday a small number of detainees had been held in secret CIA prisons overseas, and he defended the program by saying it forced terrorist leaders to reveal plots to attack the United States and its allies.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said information from one secret prison detainee had led to the arrest of Riduan Isamuddin, a key leader of Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, as well as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, al-Qaeda's alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

But Muslim politicians and activists decried the secret prison program and the interrogation techniques.

Asma Jehangir, a senior member of Pakistan's Human Rights Commission, demanded Washington end the program immediately and apologize for ever bringing it into existence.

"They have to admit that what they did was wrong," said Jehangir, who heads a UN panel that recently issued a scathing report about the detention of suspects at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Bush said that techniques used were tough but were not torture. He also said the secret prison program would continue as it is "one of the most vital tools in our war against the terrorists."

There was also criticism of the secret prisons from Beijing.

"China advocates ... that anti- terror efforts should observe the principal of the UN charter and the basic norms governing international relations," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang.

Desra Percaya, a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Indonesia, said: "There has to be a respect for human rights and international law even in the context of fighting terrorism." Washington had violated both, he added.

In Europe, the head of a European investigation into alleged CIA prisons in Europe believed the timing of Bush's disclosure was politically motivated.

"It probably has to do with the fact that elections are coming up in the US," said Swiss senator Dick Marty.

Marty also said Bush's speech was "just one piece of the truth," without elaborating. "There is more, much more to be revealed."

Marty had said in July that evidence suggested planes linked to the CIA carrying terror suspects stopped in Romania and Poland and likely dropped off detainees there, backing up reports that identified those countries as possible sites of secret detention centers.

"The location of these prison camps must be made public," said Wolfgang Kreissl-Doerfler, who sits on a EU panel investigating the prisons.

"We need to know if there has been any complicity in illegal acts by governments of EU countries or states seeking EU membership."

Some activists and defense attorneys said Bush's acknowledgment illustrated progress on the administration's part.

"President Bush has finally realized that American values are the way to win the war on terror - the values of true openness, a commitment to having fair trials and not allowing the torture of detainees," said lawyer Zachary Katznelson, who represents 36 Guantanamo detainees.

ASSOCIATED PRESS New take on terror: A37