The ACLU Tuesday accused U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of responsibility for the alleged torture of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan. The ACLU, Human Rights First and several other groups filed a federal lawsuit in Northern Illinois U.S. District Court on behalf of four Iraqi and four Afghan prisoners who allege they were tortured while in U.S. military custody. "The Abu Ghraib (prison abuse) incident was not an isolated event," said Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU. "Rumsfeld bears direct responsibility for the abuses." The Pentagon rejected all charges in a written statement: "No policies or procedures approved by the Secretary of Defense was intended as, or could conceivably have been interpreted, as a policy of abuse or as condoning abuse." The ACLU says Rumsfeld violated the 5th and 8th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and a host of international treaties that prohibit torture and cruel treatment. © Copyright 2005 by United Press International

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