LONDON - Prisoners detained by the United States in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere are still at risk of torture and ill-treatment, Amnesty International said on Friday.
| All Abu Ghraib, all the time. These guys are worse than Andrew Sullivan. |
A year after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal caused an international uproar when US guards were photographed abusing detainees, the human rights group said the Bush administration has shown a chilling disregard for international law. "The conditions to facilitate torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, all of which are equally prohibited, remain in place," an Amnesty spokesman said.
| Of course, as far as we know it isn't actually happening at this point in time, and everyone from an O-9 down to an E-3 understands that they'll be turning rocks into gravel if it does happen again, but do carry on ... |
He added that basic safeguards against ill-treatment were not being met and cited secret detention and incommunicado detention as forms of inhuman treatment.
| Newsflash: in most prisons, the inmates aren't allowed unlimited communication with the outside, particularly if the goal is to communicate with one's terrorist pals. |
"Human dignity has fallen victim to the USA's 'war on terror' and interrogation regime, as the administration has not only rejected international human rights law, but also adopted a selective disregard for international humanitarian law," Amnesty said in a report.
It added that United States' approach to detentions is characterised by hypocrisy, an over-arching war mentality and a refusal to adhere to international obligations.
| Unlike the UN, the EU, and their own organization ... |
"The USA's policies and practices have led to serious human rights violations and have set a dangerous precedent internationally," Amnesty said.
The US State Department said in a report last week it was abiding by global anti-torture rules and any abuses of detainees in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars were not systemic. The US military says its treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay is humane and justified and says it has changed some of its policies in Iraq since the abuses at Abu Ghraib.
Amnesty said there is mounting evidence of torture by US forces but only a few, mainly low-ranking soldiers have been tried or sanctioned.
| Mounting evidence: oh right, Sy Hersh must have spoken there last week ... |
No American agent has been charged under the country's Anti-Torture Act or War Crimes Act, it added. "As the culture of impunity and military leniency grows, including in cases in which Afghan and Iraqi detainees have died as a result of abuses by US agents, the administration continues to seek to try members of the 'enemy' for war crimes in front of military commissions or executive bodies, not independent or impartial courts," the report said.
| Which we're allowed to do under the Geneva Conventions, but don't let that stop you ... |
Amnesty called on the US Congress to set up an independent commission to delve into the country's detention and interrogation policies.
| And if the commission fails to find anything wrong, they'll ask for another one ... |
It also wants the United States to appoint an independent special counsel to conduct investigations into officials against whom there is evidence of involvement in crimes linked to torture, disappearances and inhuman and degrading treatment.
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