"US foreign policy in the Middle East came under heavy fire from Human Rights Watch, a leading human rights organization. In its latest world report, the organization accuses the Bush administration of using torture and inhuman treatment of detainees as "a deliberate strategy in its war on terror." These policies have created an atmosphere of tolerance of abuse around the world.

'It's not simply a matter of neglect, or command failure,' he said. 'Rather the use of torture and inhuman treatment was the Bush policy. It was reflective of a deliberate decision by the most senior Bush administration officials to fight terrorism without regard to one of the most basic prohibitions there is in international human rights law.' Reuters reports that the group said the evidence showed abusive interrogation cannot be 'be reduced to the misdeeds of a few low-ranking soldiers, but was a conscious policy choice by senior US government officials. The policy has hampered Washington's ability to cajole or pressure other states into respecting international law, said the 532-page volume's introductory essay."

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