torture reports since 2002!

U.N. Uncovers Torture at Guantanamo Bay

GENEVA - U.N. human rights investigators said Thursday they had reliable accounts of detainees being tortured at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but the United States had not responded to repeated requests to check conditions there.

"The time is up," one investigator said.

The four independent specialists told reporters that U.N. experts had made numerous requests since early 2002 to check on the conditions of terror suspects at the U.S. Naval base in Cuba, as well as at U.S. facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

They cited "information, from reliable sources, of serious allegations of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees, arbitrary detention, violations of their right to health and their due process rights.

"Many of these allegations have come to light through declassified (U.S.) government documents," said a statement from the four, who report to U.N. bodies on different human rights issues.
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The failure of the United States to respond is leading the experts to conclude that Washington has something to hide, said the specialist on torture, Manfred Nowak, a professor of international law in Vienna, Austria.
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She also noted that U.S. policy "prohibits and condemns torture."
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The specialists said they had yet to hear back from Washington on their latest request — made a year ago and renewed in mid-April — to visit the detention facility.
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"We deeply regret that the government of the United States has still not invited us to visit those persons arrested, detained or tried on grounds of alleged terrorism or other violations," the experts said.

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So, if the administration had listened, we could have nipped this in the bud and spared ourselves all of the embarassment and the violence that resulted from the actions at these facilities! F'king cretins! And by the repeated refusals, it just makes the US look even worse! But, oh yeah, talking about this puts our troops in harm's way!