London: Accusing US of violating Human Rights in the name of national security, Rights watchdog Amnesty International today (Oct 27, 2004) asked the US Presidential candidates to ensure an independent inquiry into interrogation and detention policies in Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

Asking the Presidential candidates to commit themselves to working to prevent any torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees in US custody, the Amnesty said, "In their Presidential debates, President George W Bush and Senator John Kerry failed to address USA's treatment of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo and in secret locations elsewhere."

In its new 200-page report on the issue of torture and ill-treatment by US forces in the "war on terror" released today, Amnesty International said, "Our central message is that the prevention of torture and ill-treatment is primarily a matter of political will. With this in mind, we urge the Presidential candidates to commit themselves to a commission of inquiry and the introduction of comprehensive safeguards against torture and ill-treatment."

Amnesty's report titled 'Human Dignity Denied: Torture and Accountability in the War on Terror' traces patterns of Human Rights violations that run from Afghanistan to Abu Ghraib via Guantanamo Bay.

It outlines how, despite the administration's claims that the atrocities of September 11, 2001 ushered in a "new paradigm" requiring "new thinking", the USA has fallen into a historically familiar pattern of violating Human Rights in the name of national security.