Conflict Assessment

And in Other News:

The highly regarded and admirable Human Rights Watch has released its 2006 assessment, including some valuable information which should be obvious, but apparently isn't, about the net-result from US santioned torture of detainees: that torturing the enemy inflames them and does more to raise awareness for terrorist recruiters than to deter new recruits. In other words- when we torture our enemy, more people hate us for it:

"In the course of 2005, it became indisputable that US mistreatment of detainees reflected not a failure of training, discipline or oversight, but a deliberate policy choice," Human Rights Watch said in a sweeping critique in its annual report. "The problem could not be reduced to a few bad apples at the bottom of the barrel."

The group said the US's detainee practices, along with the accusations that torture has possibly taken place at secret camps, had, together with what it said was a tendency of some Europeans to put business ahead of rights concerns, produced a "global leadership void" in defending human rights.

...Human Rights Watch suggested that a special counsel be named to investigate abuses, and that Congress establish an independent inquiry panel.

The group has long focused its reports on countries considered the world's most repressive, and its latest report lists abuses in countries including Nepal, Uzbekistan and Sudan.

But the report criticised the US because of its predominant role and its history of championing human rights abroad. "Any discussion of detainee abuse in 2005 must begin with the United States, not because it is the worst violator but because it is the most influential," the report said.

The prisoner abuse scandals of recent years have harmed US efforts to advocate democracy and to promote respect for rights abroad, the group said. "These human rights violations generate indignation and outrage that spur terrorist recruitment."

The organisation also criticised three insurgent groups in Iraq - al-Qaeda, Ansar al-Sunnah and the Islamic Army - for targeting civilians with car bombs and suicide bombers in mosques, markets and bus stations.

But The Administration was having none of it. And Scott McClellan came back with punches a-flyin:

The White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said he rejected this description of the US.

"When a group like this makes some of these assertions, it diminishes the effectiveness of that organisation," he said. "It appears to be based more on a political agenda than facts.

"The United States does more than any country in the world to advance freedom and promote human rights."

Cute, Captain McClellan, very cute.

What is particularly amusing is when one assesses The Administration's stance that disagreeable reports "harm the organization's credibility" by seeking corroborating evidence to their stated missions.

Let me give you an example. On the same day that Human Rights Watch [an independent, international organization] released their 2006 assessment of the condition and cause of human rights, the US Federal foreign aid organization, USAid, which is a completely US-centric, governmental group, released theirs, concerning the state of Iraq:

An official assessment drawn up by the US foreign aid agency depicts the security situation in Iraq as dire, amounting to a "social breakdown" in which criminals have "almost free rein".

The "conflict assessment" is an attachment to an invitation to contractors to bid on a project rehabilitating Iraqi cities published earlier this month by the US Agency for International Development (USAid).

The picture it paints is not only darker than the optimistic accounts from the White House and the Pentagon, it also gives a more complex profile of the insurgency than the straightforward "rejectionists, Saddamists and terrorists" described by George Bush.

The USAid analysis talks of an "internecine conflict" involving religious, ethnic, criminal and tribal groups. "It is increasingly common for tribesmen to 'turn in' to the authorities enemies as insurgents - this as a form of tribal revenge," the paper says, casting doubt on the efficacy of counter-insurgent sweeps by coalition and Iraqi forces.

Meanwhile, foreign jihadist groups are growing in strength, the report said.

"External fighters and organisations such as al-Qaida and the Iraqi offshoot led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi are gaining in number and notoriety as significant actors," USAid's assessment said. "Recruitment into the ranks of these organisations takes place throughout the Sunni Muslim world, with most suicide bombers coming from Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region."

The assessment conflicted sharply with recent Pentagon claims that Zarqawi's group was in "disarray".

The Administration's response?

I suppose we're still waiting for that.