The US State Dept. complaining about OTHER countries torture, illegalities

[bloom]

This is just outrageous. It makes me sick - the lack of accountability the US gov't has for what they are doing... but talk about other countries (which we are still occupying) ... :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/01/politics/01rights.html?th

U.S. Cites Array of Rights Abuses by the Iraqi Government in 2004
By BRIAN KNOWLTON
International Herald Tribune

Published: March 1, 2005

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 - The State Department on Monday detailed an array of human rights abuses last year by the Iraqi government, including torture, rape and illegal detentions by police officers and functionaries of the interim administration that took power in June.

In the Bush administration's bluntest description of human rights transgressions by the American-supported government, the report said the Iraqis "generally respected human rights, but serious problems remained" as the government and American-led foreign forces fought a violent insurgency. It cited "reports of arbitrary deprivation of life, torture, impunity, poor prison conditions - particularly in pretrial detention facilities - and arbitrary arrest and detention."

The lengthy discussion came in a chapter on Iraq in the department's annual report on human rights, which pointedly criticized not only countries that had been found chronically deficient, like North Korea, Syria and Iran, but also some close American allies, including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

The allegations of abuses by an Iraqi government installed by the United States and still heavily influenced by it provided an unusual element to the larger report. The report did not address incidents in Iraq in which Americans were involved, like the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, which came to light in 2004.

<more>

[aden_nak]

1. Could I go to the bank and "generally respect personal property laws"?

[bloom]

2. It would be like a bank robber complaining that someone stole his stolen

money.

[bloom]

3. The only good thing is seeing the New York Times and Wash.Post call them

on it.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60540-2005Feb28.html?referrer=email

State Dept. Study Cites Torture of Prisoners

Rumsfeld Approved Similar Practices

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 1, 2005; Page A10

The State Department's annual human rights report released yesterday criticized countries for a range of interrogation practices it labeled as torture, including sleep deprivation for detainees, confining prisoners in contorted positions, stripping and blindfolding them and threatening them with dogs -- methods similar to those approved at times by the Bush administration for use on detainees in U.S. custody.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld approved in December 2002 a number of severe measures, including the stripping of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and using dogs to frighten them. He later rescinded those tactics and signed off on a shorter list of "exceptional techniques," including 20-hour interrogations, face slapping, stripping detainees to create "a feeling of helplessness and dependence," and using dogs to increase anxiety.

The State Department report also harshly attacked the treatment of prisoners in such countries as Syria and Egypt, where the United States has shipped terrorism suspects under a practice known as "rendition." An Australian citizen has alleged that under Egyptian detention he was hung by his arms from hooks, repeatedly shocked, nearly drowned and brutally beaten. Most of his fingernails were missing when he later arrived at Guantanamo Bay.

Bush administration officials have said they never intend for captives to be tortured and seek pledges from foreign governments that they will treat detainees humanely.


Human rights advocates said yesterday the widespread reports of harsh interrogation techniques by the U.S. military and the CIA during the war on terrorism have undermined the moral authority of the United States to comment on human rights abuses in other parts of the world. <more>

[Roland99]

4. Pot, meet kettle....Kettle, meet pot.

Wow! Fucking HYPOCRITES!!!

[bloom]

5. Amazing, isn't it...eom

[bloom]

6. a kick for hypocrisy...

:kick: