Torture hearing puts U.S. on spot

Rebecca Carr Cox News Service May. 5, 2006 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - The United States' treatment of prisoners held in Iraq and elsewhere will be on the witness stand today when a special U.N. watchdog committee questions officials about violations of a global torture ban.

The hearing by the U.N. Committee Against Torture in Geneva marks the first time that the Bush administration will address allegations of torture before an international audience.

The 10-person committee will ask a delegation of U.S. officials from the Defense, Justice and State departments about documented and alleged abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq; the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba; secret prisons to interrogate suspected terrorists overseas; as well as allegations of inhumane treatment within the American prison system.

Civil rights and human rights groups presented evidence before the committee Thursday. It is expected to evaluate the allegations and official testimony by May 19, when its session concludes.

"Outside of genocide, torture is the worst kind of human rights abuse," said Morton Sklar, executive director of the World Organization of Human Rights USA, which submitted a report and testimony to the committee on U.S. abuses.

The U.S. government is trying to avoid responsibility for violating the international ban on torture when it expects other nations to abide by the rules, Sklar said.

The United States and the 140 other countries that have signed the Convention Against Torture are required to submit reports to the U.N. committee to prove compliance with the torture ban.

A broad coalition of groups urged the panel Thursday to hold the U.S. accountable for violating the treaty.

"This is a historic opportunity to hold the United States accountable for widespread and systemic abuse, both within the United States and abroad," said Amrit Singh, an attorney for the ACLU. "The documentary evidence is clear."

The ACLU filed a report, "Enduring Abuse: Torture and Cruel Treatment by the United States at Home and Abroad, " last week with the U.N. committee. It is based on more than 100,000 government documents obtained through the courts under the Freedom of Information Act.

The documents cited in the report reveal a pattern of torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. custody, including evidence of detainees being beaten, stripped naked and subjected to mock drownings, according to the ACLU's report.

But U.S. officials deny abuse of the torture ban.

President Bush has made it clear that U.S. policies forbid torture, said Joanne Moore, a press officer at the State Department, which is leading the U.S. delegation in Geneva.

"Regrettably, despite these safeguards, there have been abuses," Moore said. "Such violations of our law and policy are taken seriously, acted upon promptly and investigated thoroughly, and the wrongdoers are held accountable for their actions."

Allegations that the Defense Department has failed to hold people accountable are not correct, said Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros, a Pentagon spokesman.

The Defense Department has conducted more than 600 investigations into allegations of abuse and held more than 250 service members accountable, Ballesteros said.

"When there are allegations, we take them seriously," Ballesteros said. There have been 12 major reviews of detainee abuse. None of them found that the Defense Department implemented a policy that directed, sanctioned or encouraged abuse, he said.