U.S. officials respond to UN committee's questions on torture

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U.S. officials respond to UN committee's questions on torture Sam Cage,

GENEVA (AP) - U.S. officials responded Monday to a UN panel's questions on its compliance with international human rights law, saying that all U.S. government employees are prohibited from engaging in torture.

The U.S. delegation, in its first appearance before the UN Committee Against Torture in six years, was addressing 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 from all government agencies are prohibited from engaging in torture at all times and in all places," said State Department legal adviser John Bellinger III, heading the U.S. delegation. "This is the case even in situations where the law of armed conflict applies."

In the first session of the review last week, members of the UN Committee Against Torture told the United States that it has to set a better example in combating torture and cannot hide behind intelligence activities in refusing to discuss violations of the global ban on prisoner abuse in the war on terror.