Why Amnesty demands higher standard from U.S.

[struggle4progress]

<snip> The United States occupies a place on the world stage that carries with it an inescapable responsibility to be a global leader and champion for human rights protection. Sadly, though, U.S. policies (as in Abu Ghraib) in recent years are doing precisely the opposite. When U.S. officials commit or allow torture, what does that do to global efforts to banish that age-old scourge from the planet?<snip>

For more than three years in Cuba, the U.S. has operated an isolated prison colony in which people are confined arbitrarily, held incommunicado, without charge and denied trial or access to due process. Prisoners are subjected to ill-treatment; some tortured.

The U.S. operates a worldwide network of prisons beyond Guantanamo — an archipelago of secret detention centres extending from Afghanistan to Diego Garcia, from Pakistan to Iraq to Jordan — even to U.S. ships. The Washington Post has called Guantanamo Bay "one of the most serious human rights scandals in U.S. history."

The U.S. should recommit to the rule of law and human rights, and begin to repair actions that damage American credibility. <snip>

Irene Khan is secretary general of Amnesty International.

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