http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040504/pl_nm/iraq_abuse_delay_dc&cid=615&ncid=1473US Delays Rights Report Partly Due to Iraq Scandal
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The State Department plans to delay the release of a human rights report due out on Wednesday partly because of sensitivities over the U.S. prison abuse scandal in Iraq, U.S. officials said.
One official who asked not to be identified said the release of the report, which describes actions taken by the U.S. government to encourage respect for human rights by other nations, could "make us look hypocritical."
The officials said the report, "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2003-2004," was not ready to be sent to Congress and therefore could not be made public as planned.
But they said the scandal over abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where photographs have shown naked Iraqi prisoners stacked in a pyramid and positioned to simulate sex acts, had played a role in the decision to delay the release.
Asked which of the two reasons explained the delay of the report, one official said: "Both."
more