Aletho News

UN urges full US torture investigation

Press TV – November 17, 2010

The United Nations has called on the United States to conduct a full investigation into torture under the administration of former US President George W. Bush.

The UN special rapporteur on torture, Juan Ernesto Mendez, urged Washington on Tuesday to prosecute offenders as well as senior officials who ordered the abuse of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

“The United States has a duty to investigate every act of torture. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen much in the way of accountability,” Mendez told Reuters.

The Argentinean diplomat also said he plans to visit Iraq to investigate what he called a “very widespread practice of torture” of detainees by US-led forces, following the 2003 occupation of the war-torn country. The new UN expert who, himself, is a victim of prison torture during Argentina’s dictatorship in the 1970s, also plans to visit Guantanamo prison.

Mendez says he wants to conduct his own probe there on condition that US officials allow him to interview prisoners still being held at Guantanamo by the Obama administration. He also condemned Bush’s comments in his recently published memoir, “Decision Points.”

In his book, Bush confirms that he personally approved a request by CIA agents to use waterboarding and other forms of torture in the interrogation of so-called “terror suspects.” He claims that his decision helped save lives.

Bush’s autobiography, which has been much publicized in the mainstream media, is considered an attempt to politically resurrect the ex-president’s badly-tainted reputation during his tenure. This is while many human rights activists believe that Bush is a war criminal who should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. Among his crimes are unleashing two wars on Afghanistan and Iraq following the September, 11, 2001 event. The ongoing conflicts have killed over a million Afghan and Iraqi civilians and left nearly 6,000 US soldiers dead.

The unpopular former US leader is also blamed for the torture of hundreds of Iraqis, Afghans and other Muslims in US detention facilities such as Abu Ghraib in Iraq, Bagram in Afghanistan and Guantanamo in Cuba.

Last week, Amnesty International, stated that the United States must prosecute Bush for torture after a criminal probe into his admissions.

During the past month, US human rights records have come under scrutiny. In an unprecedented move two weeks ago, the United Nations Human Rights Council launched an investigation into the country’s rights violations for the first time. Although the assessment leads to no action, it undermines Washington’s immunity from punishment over torture, continued military trials, detentions and targeted drone killings in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

From Al-Jazeera:

… Mendez’s call for US accountability comes less than two weeks after the US faced the United Nations Human Rights Council over accusations of human rights violations for the first time.

Council members in Geneva, Switzerland, levelled a barrage of criticisms at the US on November 5, calling for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison and for investigations into alleged torture by US troops abroad.

The US vigorously defended its human rights record, with Harold Koh, a US state department legal adviser, telling a UN council: “Let there be no doubt, the United States does not torture and it will not torture.”

He said: “Between Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo we have conducted hundreds of investigations regarding detainee abuse allegations and those have led to hundreds of disciplinary actions.”

But Mendez criticised previous investigations into torture allegations, saying they were limited in scope. He said congressional inquiries focused on the Pentagon rather than the CIA.

Last week, the US Justice Department announced that no CIA personnel will face criminal charges for destroying videotapes of harsh interrogations of ‘terrorism’ suspects. …

November 17, 2010 - Posted by aletho | Subjugation - Torture