US World Leader- In Torture?

Several governments around the world have tried to rebut criticism of how they handle detainees by claiming they are only following the U.S. example in the war on terror, the U.N. anti-torture chief said Monday.

Manfred Nowak, the U.N. special investigator on torture, said that when he criticizes governments for their questionable treatment of detainees, they respond by telling him that if the United States does something, it must be all right. He would not name any countries except for Jordan.

“The United States has been the pioneer, if you wish, of human rights and is a country that has a high reputation in the world,” Nowak told a news conference. “Today, many other governments are kind of saying, ‘But why are you criticizing us, we are not doing something different than what the United States is doing?’”

[Source: ReligionNews Blog]

This was an entirely predictable outcome of the President's questioning of the language of the Geneva Conventions and his efforts to seize authority to define torture as he sees fit. He was asked at a press conference if he was comfortable with having other nations define torture in their own was as he was seeking to do. He avoided the question. He can avoid it no longer. He'll be asked the question very directly when a US soldier is seized somewhere in the world. And he'll be asked by the family of that soldier.

Below are the President's words in response to the question of his becoming the 'decider' on what is torture.

GP