4-28-05, 8:48 am

From Morning Star

A YEAR after the world was revolted by the publication of photographs detailing the torture and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad, top US military and political leaders remain unpunished.

A handful of low-ranking US troops have been served up as scapegoats to deflect the blame from such people as Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez.

Mr Rumsfeld has had overall political charge of the illegal invasion and the occupation, while Lt-Gen Sanchez was the top military commander in Iraq.

The US defence secretary is up to his neck in the scandal, having approved, as far back as December 2002, such techniques as hooding, stripping naked, prolonged isolation, use of dogs, loud music, light control and sensory deprivation as suitable means of interrogating detainees in Guantanamo Bay.

These practices then spread to both Iraq and Afghanistan at his behest.

In April 2003, Mr Rumsfeld codified these methods, which were adopted in September of that year by Lt-Gen Sanchez for use in Abu Ghraib.

But while private soldiers and sergeants have been banged up for treating prisoners badly, the top brass have operated with impunity. Indeed, Lt-Gen Sanchez and three other senior officers were cleared of wrongdoing by a high-level internal military investigation last week.

In response, the US-based campaign Human Rights Watch has urged the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the roles of Mr Rumsfeld, Lt-Gen Sanchez and former CIA director George Tenet in this carnival of abuse. No-one should hold their breath, because, just as the US ruling elite has united to frustrate investigation of those ultimately responsible for torture, so too are Washington's political allies in Europe.

At last week's meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, a Cuban proposal that commission staff should look into the serious human rights charges made against the US government regarding Guantanamo was kicked out.

Eight countries voted in favour, with 22 against and 23 abstaining, in light of the usual US pressure on weaker states.

However, what made matters worse was the collective decision to oppose Cuba's motion that was taken by the member states of the European Union.

A year ago, the EU prevailed on Havana not to put a similar motion, but, since then, copious evidence has emerged of the goings-on behind Guantanamo's fences. Even the toothless European Parliament voted six months ago to ask EU countries to present their own resolution on this issue.

And this is the same EU that votes each year to keep the human rights situation in Cuba under review, doing Washington's dirty work for it.

Faced with a choice between upsetting the Bush administration or defending human rights, the hypocritical EU snubbed justice and world public opinion in favour of brown-nosing Uncle Sam.

Any subsequent pompous posturing by Brussels over human rights anywhere will be devalued by this shameful surrender to Washington.