U.N. grills U.S. on torture ban [View All]

GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) -- The U.N. has grilled the United States on its compliance with the global ban on torture for the first time since Washington declared war on terrorists, rejecting U.S. refusals to discuss intelligence matters like alleged secret CIA prisons and flights transferring suspects for possible torture in other countries.

The U.N. Committee Against Torture, the global body's watchdog for a 22-year-old treaty forbidding prisoner abuse, asked U.S. officials about a series of issues ranging from Washington's interpretation of the absolute ban on torture to its interrogation methods in prisons such as Abu Ghraib, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

U.S. officials acknowledge mistakes had been made and that 29 detainees in American facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan had died of what appeared to be suspected abuse or other violations of U.S. law.

U.S. State Department lawyer John B. Bellinger III, who led the U.S. delegation at Friday's hearing, defended Washington's commitment to its international obligations and read prepared answers to written questions submitted in advance from the committee in writing.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/05/05/un.us.torture.ap/index.html