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ncMindy

Apr 28 2006, 03:54 PM

QUOTE

U.S. prepares to face U.N. on torture as Amnesty report blasts 'war crimes'

RAW STORY
Published: Friday April 28, 2006

As the United States prepares a team of 30 to defend its record on torture before a U.N. committee, Amnesty International has made public a report blasting the United States for failing to take appropriate steps to eradicate use of torture at U.S. detention sites around the world, RAW STORY has learned.

U.S. compliance with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment will be the topic of May 5 and 8 U.N. hearings in Geneva.

The United States last appeared before the Committee Against Torture in May, 2000. Amnesty claims that practices criticized by the Committee six years ago -- such as the use of electro-shock weapons and excessively harsh conditions in "super-maximum" security prisons -- have been used and exported by U.S. forces abroad.

Full Raw Story Here

ncMindy

May 5 2006, 07:34 PM

QUOTE

US defends torture charges

by Michael Adler in Vienna
05may06

US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended US policy in the war against terror overnight, even as human rights groups began a meeting to hear charges that the United States systematically uses torture.

Mr Gonzalez said he was taking the time to talk to them on a visit to Vienna to do "a better job" in explaining the US position, amid growing protests that Washington is violating human rights.

"I think that the United States has suffered a bit because of the fact that when the war began we were facing such a new and dire threat from Al Qaeda, not knowing whether or not there would be a second wave that the United States took some very aggressive measures," Mr Gonzales said.
...

In Geneva overnight human rights groups sharply criticised methods used by Washington in its anti-terror drive, as the UN anti-torture body began its first examination of the United States since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

"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 -- including by trying to narrow the definition of torture," said Curt Goering of Amnesty International.

Full Story Here

And the world says, "sure thing, Gonzo."

judykratochvil

May 6 2006, 02:24 PM

Can we get him the hell out of there. How can he defend torture? This guy is insane.

ncMindy

May 19 2006, 04:29 PM

QUOTE

U.N. Urges Closure of Guantanamo Detention Facility

By Colum Lynch and Bill Brubaker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, May 19, 2006; 5:48 PM

A U.N. anti-torture panel today issued a rebuke of Bush administration counter-terrorism policies today, calling for the closing of the Guantanamo detention facility in Cuba and a halt to the transfer of suspected terrorists to countries where they may face torture.

The committee, charged with monitoring the 1984 Convention Against Torture that the United States has ratified, also stated that the imprisonment of suspects in secret detention facilities constitutes a clear violation of the treaty.

The 11-page report released today marked the culmination of the most exhaustive international public review of U.S. anti-terror tactics since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

U.S. officials quickly branded the report unfair, unrealistic and, in some respects, inaccurate.

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