NOTE: lesson learnt: if you just as bad as everybody else, dont preach morality and universal basic human values.
if you are a bad guy, and you do bad things, anybody's just gonna 'understand' it. but if you've a priest like behavior, saying nice, speaking morality highly, but at the same time what you do, did and been doing just as bad as the bad guys can be, then YOU ARE THE WORST axis of evil anybody can imagine. bravo, USA! cheers up, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3749363.stm US condemned over rights abuses Detainees at Guantanamo Bay Amnesty said the world was becoming a more dangerous place The "war on terror" led by the US is behind a surge of human rights abuses around the world, according to a report by Amnesty International. The organisation said America's assault against global terrorism had "made the world a more dangerous place". It said reactions to the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US still dominated the way human rights were dealt with. US official s said they took Amnesty's report "seriously", but said America was a "leader" in human rights. Amnesty's Secretary General Irene Khan said the US pursuit of security had actually made the world a more dangerous place. "Sacrificing human rights in the name of security at home, turning a blind eye to abuses abroad and using pre-emptive military force where and when it chooses, have neither increased security nor ensured liberty," she said. The report cites the hundreds of detainees from around 40 countries who are being held by the US without charge in Iraq, Cuba and Afghanistan. It has refused to grant prisoner-of-war status to more than 600 detainees at the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, choosing to describe them as "illegal combatants". By failing to protect the rights of those who may be guilty, governments endanger the rights of those who are innocent and put us all at risk Irene Khan The world should have expected the shocking photographs of Iraqi prisoners being tortured at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Ms Khan said. "This is the logical consequence of the relentless pursuit of the war on terror since 11 September. It is the result of the US seeking to put itself outside the ambit of judicial scrutiny. "The US has lost its high moral ground and its ability to lead on peace and elsewhere," she said. White House spokesman Scott McClellan dismissed the report, saying: "The war on terror has led to the liberation of some 50 million people in [Afghanistan and Iraq], and the United States is a leader when it comes to protecting human rights, and we will continue to be." But US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: "We do take Amnesty's report seriously. We look at what they say... We have close ties. We talk to them all the time, share information." "That being said, we don't necessarily agree with their views. We have recognized the abuses that took place at Abu Ghraib... Justice is being served and will be served in that matter." 'Excessive force' Amnesty said coalition forces failed to live up to their obligations as the occupying power during the war on Iraq and that civilians had died as a direct consequence of the excessive force used by soldiers. The war in Iraq, the report said, has diverted global attention from other human rights abuses around the world. It also mentions: # Prisoners of conscience in many Middle East states # "Disappearances" carried out by Russian state agents in war-ravaged Chechnya # Unlawful killings in Nepal and Colombia # Abuses by armed groups in Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo # Torture and ill-treatment in territories under Israeli and Palestinian control The year 2003 had also dealt a blow to the UN's vision of universal human rights, with the global body "virtually paralysed in its efforts to hold states to account", the report said. -------- Thursday, April 28, 2005. 2:28pm (AEST) One year on, Amnesty International blasts US for Abu Ghraib failings http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0428-09.htm Amnesty International blasted the United States on Thursday for failing to launch an independent probe into Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison scandal, a year after images of abused detainees first shocked the world. The London-based human rights organisation also condemned signs of fresh torture and sexual abuse in the country by the Iraqi prison authorities. "People around the world will be recalling the horrific images they saw a year ago and wondering what happened to those prisoners," said Amnesty secretary general Irene Khan, noting that only a handful of low-ranking US soldiers had been prosecuted or disciplined over the outrage. "But what was the role of those higher up, including, for example, the US secretary of defence?" she demanded, referring to Donald Rumsfeld. A year after the dramatic revelations of sexual and physical abuse at the prison on Baghdad's western outskirts were leaked to the media, only five of seven US guards have been punished. The senior commander of the US military in Iraq at the time of the scandal, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, was cleared on Friday of any wrongdoing by a US military probe. "The US government must set up an independent inquiry into all aspects of the USA's 'war on terror' detention and interrogation practices," Ms Khan said. Torture was unacceptable and any government taking part in such abuse destroyed the values that it claimed to protect, she charged. "When a major power like the USA resorts to torture or ill-treatment, other countries may see a green light to follow suit," Ms Khan said in a statement. The US-led invasion of Iraq was designed to end the suffering inflicted by former dictator Saddam Hussein on his people, but instead has led to new reports of torture carried out by the post-Saddam Iraqi security forces, Amnesty said. In February, three men died in custody after being arrested at a police checkpoint, the rights body said. The bodies "were found three days later, bearing clear marks of torture from beatings and electric shocks," it said. The rights group also spoke about cases of torture carried out at Iraq's interior ministry and claimed that the US authorities were aware of them. It cited one former prisoner, Ali Safar al-Bawy -- an Iraqi resident in Sweden -- describing how he was given an electric shock while held captive for three weeks in July last year. The man also alleged that a child prisoner had been sexually abused by Iraqi guards. Amnesty International called for the anniversary of the publication of the photographs from Abu Ghraib "to be marked by the strongest condemnation of all forms of torture by the US and Iraqi governments". "One year on, the US authorities must establish an independent investigation into the abuses and bring the perpetrators to justice." - AFP Faruq Saniyasnain (Manchester) ___________________________________________________________ How much free photo storage do you get? Store your holiday snaps for FREE with Yahoo! 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