The U.N., the U.S., and Torture

It’s painful to read the following:

The torture convention outlaws all forms of torture and inhumane treatment whatever the circumstances, forbids sending people to countries where they risk torture, and requires prosecution and punishment of all those responsible for torture up the chain of command.
In a report to the committee this week, UK-based Amnesty International said there was evidence of ‘widespread torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees’.
It accused Washington of creating a climate in which torture and ill-treatment could flourish, by trying to narrow the definition of torture and failing to hold senior officials responsible.
Jennifer Daskal, US advocacy director of Human Rights Watch in New York, said yesterday that senior US officials were still refusing to classify ‘water-boarding’ ‚Äì a near-drowning technique used in the Spanish Inquisition ‚Äì as torture.

Can some journalist with some balls simply ask Rumsfeld or Rice or Cheney or Bush up-front whether they believe "waterboparding" amounts to "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment of detainees? We deserve an answer.