NEW YORK, June 29 (UPI) -- The American Civil Liberties Union this week urged the U.S. Congress to launch a new anti-torture practices probe.
The ACLU said in a statement that Congress should "create an independent and bipartisan commission to thoroughly investigate policies and practices of torture and abuse against detainees held in U.S. custody."
"It is a sad commentary that on a day that used to be about calling on rogue countries to stop the practice of torture and abuse, Americans cannot at least hold their heads up high in the knowledge that their own government has behaved according to international legal and moral standards," said Jamil Dakwar, advocacy director of the ACLU's Human Rights Program.
"It is time for Congress to finally thoroughly investigate the chain of command that allowed this to happen, and to also make sure that the victims of these disgraceful actions have a proper avenue for redress," he said.
The ACLU said that so far "no high-ranking senior officials in the government or military have been held accountable for U.S. detainee abuse, including that at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq."
"According to a June 25 published report, the Pentagon and senior military officials were told about the now infamous Abu Ghraib abuses significantly earlier than they professed to have knowledge about them," the human rights group said.
The Democratic-controlled 110th Congress has been slowly extending its oversight functions on elements of national security and domestic surveillance. But human rights activists want it to move farther and faster.
