US Acknowledges Torture At Guantanamo, Elsewhere: UN.
Bloggledygook
Agence France Presse is reporting that a UN source is saying that Washington has admitted to the UN Committee against Torture that prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan were tortured:
The acknowledgement was made in a report submitted to the UN Committee against Torture, said a member of the ten-person panel, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"They are no longer trying to duck this, and have respected their obligation to inform the UN," the Committee member told AFP.
"They will have to explain themselves (to the Committee). Nothing should be kept in the dark."
UN sources said it was the first time the world body has received such a frank statement on torture from US authorities.
The Committee, which monitors respect for the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, is gathering information from the US ahead of hearings in May 2006.
Forbes has the same story.
The source says that the US claims that the torture was committed by low-ranking military personnel and not sanctioned by their superiors.
"They haven't avoided anything in their answers, whether concerning prisoners in Iraq, in Afghanistan or Guantanamo, and other accusations of mistreatment and of torture," the Committee member said.
"They said it was a question of isolated cases, that there was nothing systematic and that the guilty were in the process of being punished."
If this is true, then the clamor for somebody to be nailed will grow. This very well may be the reason Ted Kennedy went after Rumsfeld yesterday. There is going to be blood in the water. It's looking to me like somebody up the chain of command is going to have to answer for this, whether or not there was approval and whether or not the military and government did all the right things in reporting.
More as I find it.
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