http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2005/01/07/global9968.htm"Human Rights Watch urged the Bush administration to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate any U.S. officials who participated in, ordered or had command responsibility for torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Human Rights Watch pointed out that senior administration officials have sought to blame the scandal on the young soldiers they sent to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, instead of accepting responsibility themselves for the policies and orders that weakened the rules against torture and inhumane treatment."
"Meanwhile, the U.S. government’s systematic use of coercive interrogation has weakened a pillar of international human rights law — the requirement that governments should never subject detainees to torture or other mistreatment, even in the face of war or other serious threat. Yet in fighting terrorism, the U.S. government has treated this cornerstone obligation as a matter of choice, not duty.
By ignoring human rights standards in its reaction to September 11, the Bush administration has made it easier for governments around the world to cite the U.S. example as an excuse to ignore human rights. Egypt has defended a decision to renew its problematic “emergency law” by referring to U.S. anti-terror legislation. The Malaysian government justifies detention without trial by invoking Guantánamo. Russia cites Abu Ghraib to blame abuses in Chechnya solely on low-level soldiers. Cuba now claims the Bush administration had “no moral authority to accuse” it of human rights violations."
“Governments facing human rights pressure from the United States now find it easy to turn the tables,” said Roth. “Washington can’t very well uphold principles that it violates itself.”
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