Improving torture

I never thought I'd see the day the United States would have to defend itself at the United Nations regarding detainee abuse.

More than 100 American soldiers and intelligence officers have been disciplined for abusing detainees, United States officials said Monday before an international panel investigating the country's treatment of prisoners in its fight against terrorism. The number is nearly twice that cited by human rights groups.

In the second and final day of questioning by the United Nations Committee Against Torture, members of a United States delegation responded to queries on topics including the definition of torture and policies on transferring prisoners to countries with poor human rights records.

The delegates said the United States was acting to ensure that it adhered to its treaty obligations to prevent the torture of prisoners. It is one of 141 signers of the Convention Against Torture, a 1987 treaty. Problems of abuse found in prisons like Abu Ghraib in Iraq were isolated missteps, the delegates said.

"We recognize much of the world does hold the United States to a high standard," said the State Department's legal adviser, John B. Bellinger III, who led the delegation. "Without question our record has improved."

Nora Sveaass, a panel member from Norway, said the United States had given "very reassuring answers" on efforts to bring those responsible for torture to justice.

We've long criticized the UN for lacking teeth when it comes to these sorts of things (when it involves other countries). Now we can see how few teeth it has. No one of significant rank has been disciplined. And, oh, we still maintain the god-given right to outsource torture.

In the two days of questioning, the panel pushed the delegation to define the scope of torture. On Monday, Fernando Mariño Menéndez, a panel member from Spain, asked whether torture could be defined to include the forced disappearance of terrorism suspects and the establishment of secret prisons.

"I don't think one can say per se that it is," Mr. Bellinger replied. He said the United States believed that some terrorism suspects posed such a threat to security that they had forgone their rights to communicate with their families and others.

As for the interrogation technique known as waterboarding, in which a suspect is made to believe that he is drowning, Mr. Stimson said the revised Army Field Manual would not include the practice.

When asked about the practice of sending prisoners for questioning to countries where they could be at risk for torture, American officials said the terms of the antitorture convention did not ban that policy.

Don't worry, though. We're "improving."