From Prisons to Black Sites, US Hand in Global Torture Exposed

[G_j]

https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/05/13-3

Amnesty International report on global torture exposes inhumane acts perpetrated by United States

Published on Tuesday, May 13, 2014 by Common Dreams
- Sarah Lazare, staff writer

Thirty years after ratifying the UN Convention Against Torture, the U.S. government has dodged accountability for perpetrating torture in domestic prisons and CIA black sites and embroiling foreign states in inhumane acts.

So finds a report on global torture released Tuesday by human rights organization Amnesty International. According to the study, torture and abuse have been reported in at least 141 countries around the world in the past five years.

A survey conducted by Amnesty found that 44 percent of people across the world are afraid they would be in danger of torture if taken into state custody in their country.

In the United States, 32 percent of respondents expressed such a fear—which, according to the report, has merit.

"In some maximum security isolation or segregation facilities across the USA, many thousands of inmates are held in solitary confinement in small cells for 22 to 24 hours a day. Many have little access to natural light or out-of-cell recreation time which amounts to cruel inhuman or degrading treatment," reads the study.

U.S. torture is not confined within its borders. "The U.S. government is also failing to ensure accountability for torture and enforced disappearances committed in the context of counter-terrorism operations. No one responsible for the use of interrogation techniques such as 'water-boarding,' prolonged sleep deprivation, and stress positions in Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-run secret detention centres around the world has been brought to justice. The U.S. Select Committee on Intelligence has conducted a review of the now-terminated CIA programme, but its 6,000-plus page report remains classified."

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[jwirr]

1. Just sad.

[Bandit]

2. USA...USA...USA...USA...USA

We may not be number one in education or health care but we certainly are number one in torture. We be the best torturers and half the nation is proud of that FACT.

[gratuitous]

3. Sad and dangerous

Who knows when or where the survivors of our crimes against humanity will decide to exact their revenge? Will they show the same care and restraint we've shown to be sure that innocent bystanders like you and me don't get caught up in the unpleasantness? If revenge is served up on a cold platter, will we once again go through a spasm of ersatz patriotism to avenge our fallen fellow citizens and seek retribution against those who hate us for our freedom?

Or maybe we'd just better hope that the survivors of our brutality are better people than we are, because we sure don't show any tendency toward giving up our mindlessly violent ways.