Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Senator Dick Durbin says he'll resist President George W. Bush's demand that Congress shield telephone companies from privacy suits until lawmakers are told how carriers aided the warrantless wiretapping of Americans after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The president wants to grant phone companies such as Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc., and Sprint Nextel Corp. protection from private lawsuits. The companies have been named in 36 suits seeking billions of dollars in damages for giving the government customers' private calling data.

``I am not for blanket immunity until we understand what this program has been about,'' Durbin, the Democrats' No. 2 Senate leader, said on Bloomberg Television's ``Political Capital with Al Hunt.''

Bush's terrorist surveillance program ``has been cloaked in secrecy and now the administration wants to give total legal immunity to those who were involved in it before telling Congress what they did,'' Durbin said.

The House is set to vote next week on a surveillance measure that does not contain the immunity provision. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday that Congress should ``proceed very cautiously'' before granting immunity.

The Senate is drafting its own revision of a surveillance law that now authorizes spy agencies to intercept, without a warrant, communications between terrorist suspects overseas and people in the U.S.

Armenian Genocide

On other topics, Durbin was skeptical that the Senate would approve a resolution, which he co-sponsors, to condemn as genocide the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks almost a century ago.

``It's a very contentious and volatile issue'' with Turkey and ``even in our own State Department and there may be resistance'' from Republicans who can prevent a vote, he said.

Turkey has recalled its ambassador to the U.S. for consultations to protest a House panel's vote approving the resolution.

At next week's Senate confirmation hearings on a new attorney general, Durbin said nominee Michael B. Mukasey should give a ``clear statement'' that the firing of nine U.S. attorneys ``was not only a political blunder but just plain wrong.'' Furor over the dismissals helped forced the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

As part of the confirmation process, Durbin said the White House should reach ``some accommodation'' with the Senate about providing White House documents on who ordered the firings.

Resisting Subpoenas

Bush has resisted subpoenas by congressional committees investigating whether his former top political adviser, Karl Rove, orchestrated the purge.

Mukasey should also give lawmakers his views on the treatment of terrorist suspects in custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and secret CIA prisons, Durbin said. ``What is he going to do with the issue of torture?''

In a private meeting, Durbin said Mukasey ``wasn't as clear about the future of that facility'' as Bush, who ``has talked about closing it for a long, long time.''

Gonzales ``was in on the ground floor of rewriting the rules'' in secret memos that ``really raise important questions'' about techniques for interrogating terrorist suspects, Durbin said.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Rowley in Washington at jarowley@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: October 12, 2007 14:23 EDT