U.N. lectures U.S. on torture

GENEVA — The United Nations urged the United States to set an example in combating torture, saying it must be more open in addressing allegations of prisoner abuse stemming from the war on terror.

The U.N. Committee Against Torture asked U.S. officials about a series of issues ranging from Washington's interpretation of a global ban on torture to its interrogation methods in prisons such as Abu Ghraib, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Andreas Mavrommatis of Cyprus, who chaired the session, praised the United States for its "unique contribution" in promoting human rights around the world but said it has an obligation to be above reproach.

He said he could understand that intelligence matters needed careful treatment, "but they are not excluded" from scrutiny.

"If during intelligence activities there is a violation of the convention, it's our duty to investigate them and your duty to answer," Mavrommatis said.

State Department legal adviser John B. Bellinger III, leading the U.S. delegation in its first appearance before the committee in six years, insisted the U.S. government felt an "absolute commitment to upholding our national and international obligations to eradicate torture."

The committee submitted questions in advance to the U.S. government that covered such matters such as alleged secret CIA prisons and the "rendition" or transfer of terror suspects to other countries, where they allegedly could face torture.

Bellinger told reporters later that it was "an absurd allegation" to suggest that any U.S. intelligence flight in Europe might be carrying a detainee, because many carry analysts, officials and forensic information. But he added that it wasn't proper to provide details on intelligence activities.

The U.S. delegation told the committee, the U.N.'s watchdog for a 22-year-old treaty forbidding prisoner abuse, that mistakes had occurred in the U.S. treatment of detainees in the war against terrorism and 29 detainees in U.S. facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan had died of what appeared to be abuse or other violations of U.S. law.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Charles Stimson said a total of 120 detainees have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, but none had died at Guantanamo. Most of the deaths resulted from natural causes, battlefield injuries or attacks by other detainees, he said.

In the cases of the 29 deaths from suspected abuse, Stimson said, "these alleged violations were properly investigated and appropriate action taken."