US accused of hypocrisy on human rights

UK Independent - The US State Department released its latest global report on human rights last week, inviting some ironic comment since the United States can now easily be perceived to have broken its own guidelines about the physical mistreatment of prisoners and suspension of judicial due process.

"Stress and duress" interrogation techniques – condemned by the State Department as a form of torture when practised by others – secret detentions, closed hearings and lack of access to lawyers or the courts have all been features of the Bush administration's "war on terror".