Group Says U.S. Abusing Rights in Terrorist War

The United States and some of its allies are misusing the war on terrorism to deny basic human rights to thousands of detainees, including hundreds of Al Qaeda and Taliban suspects incarcerated at a U.S. base in Cuba, Amnesty International charged Tuesday.

In its annual state of the world report, the organization said the Bush administration has lost its moral authority to criticize human rights abuses abroad through its own failure to guarantee the rights of foreigners detained in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

U.S. officials have been “selective” in applying Geneva Convention guarantees to prisoners, the report said, and, “in suggesting that national security may require compromises on human rights ..., the U.S. government risks signaling its allies that ‘anything goes’ in their own human rights practices.”

Administration officials replied that tough, speedy measures are needed to destroy Al Qaeda and prevent terrorist attacks like those on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and that prisoners must be kept from communicating with outside accomplices. Many have been held in solitary confinement.

Speaking in support of new powers of search, detention and surveillance that Congress granted the Bush administration, Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft told a Senate subcommittee this year: “One option is to call Sept. 11 a fluke and to live in a dream world that requires us to do nothing different. The other option is to fight back.”

Amnesty International officials singled out for criticism the creation of U.S. military tribunals to try alleged terrorists and the indefinite detention of some suspects without access to counsel. Echoing the views of other civil rights advocates, the report said these military commissions establish “a parallel system of justice that concentrates power in the executive branch without a judicial appeals process.”

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld recently sought to assure Congress that military tribunals “will conduct trials that are fair and impartial,” with appeals to be heard by a three-member military review panel.

“The president recognized there had to be differences [in the criminal justice process] to deal with the unusual situation,” Rumsfeld said.

Irene Khan, Amnesty’s secretary-general, said the United States is setting an example by refusing to classify suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as prisoners of war, a category that would limit the extent of any interrogations.

“A very dangerous message is sent when the pillars [of human rights] are attacked,” Khan said. “The edifice could crumble.”

Victoria Clarke, a Defense Department spokeswoman, insisted Tuesday that the detainees are being treated humanely. She said they have the right to worship as they please, and they enjoy more rights than Al Qaeda fighters were willing to grant their opponents.

“They continue to get excellent care ... culturally appropriate food [and] excellent medical treatment,” Clarke said. “They are battlefield combatants. They’re being held as such and they’re being held appropriately.”

William F. Schulz, executive director of Amnesty’s U.S. branch, told reporters that “the U.S. government fails to understand that human rights are far from an impediment to national security--they are the foundation.”

Schulz said President Bush has avoided pressing other nations to eliminate human rights abuses for fear of weakening the U.S.-led alliance against terrorism.

“As it works to maintain a global coalition for its war on terrorism, the U.S. government has instituted a self-imposed gag order, stifling its criticism of the human rights practices of many old and new allies,” he said.

The report said Britain also has detained some alleged terrorists under laws that allow certain suspects to be held indefinitely without charges or a trial. In addition, India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Singapore have introduced “repressive” measures aimed at tightening security, the report said.

“Human rights were traded away in almost all parts of the world” in reaction to Sept. 11, Amnesty International said. “Democratic states jumped on the bandwagon almost as rapidly as authoritarian regimes.”

Amnesty’s 300-page report, which assesses human rights in 152 countries, repeats its criticism of the use of the death penalty in the United States and elsewhere. It noted that 74 countries or territories had abolished capital punishment by the end of last year, while an additional 15 had eliminated it for all but exceptional offenses such as “wartime crimes.”

A total of 3,048 people were executed in 31 countries last year, the report said. The vast majority of executions--2,468--took place in China.