Bush allows torture of detainees

Bush allows torture of detainees, says Jimmy Carter
Friday • October 12, 2007
WASHINGTON — United States President George W Bush's administration tortures detainees in defiance of international law, former President Jimmy Carter charged on Wednesday.
"I don't think it, I know it, certainly," Mr Carter told CNN television when asked if he believed the US administration allowed the use of torture.
Mr Carter rejected Mr Bush's statement last week that the US does not torture terror suspects.
"That's not an accurate statement, if you use the international norms of torture as has always been honoured, certainly in the last 60 years, since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated," Mr Carter said.
"But you can make your own definition of human rights and say, 'We don't violate them.' And ... you can make your own definition of torture and say 'we don't violate it'," said the former Democrat President and Nobel laureate.
Asked if Mr Bush was lying, Mr Carter said: "The President is self-defining what we have done and authorised in the torture of prisoners, yes."
The White House rejected Mr Carter's comments and reiterated that the administration does not condone torture.
"The United States does not torture," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told AFP in an email.
— AFP http://www.todayonline.com/articles/216260.asp#