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Wednesday, May 26, 2004

The abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops was the consequence of the Bush administration's policy "to pick and choose which bits of international law it will apply and where," the group's secretary general, Irene Khan, said in presenting the annual assessment of human rights.

Worse Than al-Qaida?

Khan condemned attacks by terror groups such as al-Qaida, but said the U.S. response was driving the most sustained erosion of human rights and international law in 50 years.

"As a strategy, the war on terror is bankrupt of vision and bereft of principle," Khan said. "Sacrificing human rights in the name of national security, turning a blind eye to abuse abroad and using pre-emptive military force where and when the powerful choose to act has damaged justice and freedom, and made the world a more dangerous and divided place."

Asked about the report's assertions, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "I dismiss that."

'War on Terror Has Protected Rights'

"The war on terrorism has protected the human rights of some 25 million people in Afghanistan, and some 25 million people in Iraq," he said in Washington. "The war on terror has led to the liberation of some 50 million people in those countries, and the United States is a leader when it comes to protecting human rights, and we will continue to be."

Kahn said Amnesty wrote to the British and U.S. governments a year ago detailing allegations of torture, ill-treatment, deaths in custody and other abuses in Iraq.

"We have some form of response from the British and none to this date from the Americans," she said.

"It seems that accountability in Washington, D.C., is better generated by Kodak," she said, referring to the recent publication of photographs of U.S. troops abusing and humiliating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.

Amnesty said it was denied access to Abu Ghraib and to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where the United States is holding hundreds of foreign nationals in indefinite detention.

It said it had credible reports that a Chinese government delegation was sent to Guantanamo in September 2002 to help interrogate Uighur Muslims being held there and used techniques including having inmates stand for long periods and depriving them of sleep.

The report criticized Spain, France and Uzbekistan, among other nations, for what it called "regressive" anti-terrorist legislation and restrictions on freedom since the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Britain was singled out for holding 14 foreign nationals under anti-terrorism laws that allow indefinite detention without charges.

British police disclosed last month that more than half the 572 people arrested in anti-terror raids in Britain since Sept. 11, 2001, were released without charge, and fewer than one in five were charged with terrorism offenses.

Khan said governments around the world were flouting human rights "with impunity and audacity" in the name of the war on terror.

Worse Than Pol Pot's Genocide?!

"There were terrible abuses in the past - Rwanda, Cambodia, in the Balkans. ... But what we are now seeing is a pervasive culture of abuse that has spread like a cancerous growth, and that is what is so dangerous today," she said.

Khan said she was heartened by the millions who took to the streets worldwide to protest the war in Iraq, the Spaniards who marched after the March 11 terrorist attacks in Madrid and World Social Forum in Brazil.

"There are real signs of a global justice movement in the making," she said. "Governments need to listen to their voices."

The report said the war on terror had obscured the greatest challenge to human rights in recent history: the spending of billions of dollars a year on weapons instead of tackling poverty.

As a result, U.N. Millennium Development Goals such as reducing child mortality and halving the number of people without access to clean water may not be achieved.

The report cited several countries, including Zimbabwe, Myanmar and Cuba, where "old-fashioned repression" continued unchecked.

In the Middle East, it noted the Israeli army killed about 600 Palestinians last year, including more than 100 children.

In Russia, it said security forces continued to act with virtual impunity in Chechnya, where there are ongoing reports of torture and disappearances of dissidents.

© 2004 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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