Watchdog says US creating 'climate of torture'

The Bush administration's efforts to plead innocence to charges of using torture before a key United Nations committee have been complicated by a new report from an influential human rights group suggesting otherwise. The United States continues to use torture against prisoners in and outside the country, Amnesty International, a London-based human rights group has charged. In a new report released on May 3, the group blasted the US government for abusing prisoners and said it is creating a "climate of torture." Amnesty International has sent its report to the United Nations Committee Against Torture, which is due to meet in Geneva later this week to see whether the US government is in violation of the Convention Against Torture, which prohibits torture in all circumstances. The 10-member Committee is tasked with monitoring the compliance of countries with their obligations under the treaty. During its three-week meetings, it will also be looking into reports on Georgia, Guatemala, Qatar and Togo. The US government claims that it is against the use of torture under any circumstances, including war and public emergency, but a number of human rights groups assert that the US government has resorted to torture methods at Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo, and its other military-run prisons around the world, "The US government is not only failing to take steps to eradicate torture, it is actually creating a climate in which torture and other ill-treatment can flourish," said Curt Goering of Amnesty International's US chapter. The group asserts that measures taken by the US government in response to widespread torture and ill-treatment of terror suspects held in US military custody "has been far from adequate." "This is despite evidence that much of the ill-treatment stemmed directly from official policy and practice," says Goering. The report points out several cases where detainees held in Afghanistan and Iraq have died under torture, yet no US agent has been prosecuted for "torture" or "war crimes." "The heaviest sentence imposed on anyone to date for a torture-related death while in US custody is five months–the same sentence you might receive in the US for stealing a bicycle," said Goering. That case involved a 22-year-old taxi driver who was hooded and chained to a ceiling while being kicked and beaten until he died, according to Amnesty. The group also expressed its concern over excessive force by police, use of electroshock weapons, isolation of prisoners in "super-max" security prisons, and abuses against women in the US prison system. The US last appeared before the UN Committee Against Torture some six years ago to respond to charges referring to the use of electroshock weapons and excessively harsh conditions in super-maximum security prisons. "The US has long taken a selective approach to international standards, but in recent years, the US government has taken unprecedented steps to disregard its obligations under international treaties," said Javier Zuniga director of Amnesty International's Americas Program. Zuniga fears that the US attitude could "threaten the whole framework of international law." The rights group says it wants the US government to clarify to the Committee that under its laws, no one, including the president, has the right or authority to order the torture of detainees under any circumstances, and that any one who does so, including the president, will have committed a crime. In a report released last February, UN investigators on torture had called on the US government to close down Guantánamo and "refrain from any practice amounting to torture, or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment" of prisoners. But in its response, Washington slammed the UN, noting that the UN experts had declined an invitation to visit Guantánamo because they would not be allowed to interview prisoners. Last month, in a statement, Human Rights Watch, a New York-based independent group, also raised serious questions about the role of US military leadership and Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld in incidents of torture of prisoners in US Custody. The rights group said Rumsfeld could be criminally liable under federal or military law for the abuse and torture of Mohammad al-Qahtani, a prisoner held on terrorism charges at Guantánamo in 2002 and 2003. The US plans to defend itself before the UN Committee Against Torture by sending a 30-member delegation to Geneva. The committee hearing on the US behavior will take place on May 5 and 8.