US officials told the UN’s anti-torture body that the United States had held 103 courts martial for mistreatment of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan under a broad clampdown against ill treatment. Another 170 investigations are still under way, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Charles Stimson said during Washington’s first appearance before the UN Committee on Torture since President George W. Bush unleashed a ‘war on terrorism’. The US delegation reiterated that the use of torture or cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment by the US military or intelligence services was outlawed, wherever they may be operating. But in response to questions from the 10 legal experts on the UN panel, the officials indicated that Washington had been obliged to act in a broad manner following revelations of ill treatment in recent years. US State Department legal counsel John Bellinger said allegations of mistreatment of detained ‘enemy’ fighters emerged several years ago. ‘I am not trying to minimise their significance in any way at all, but to emphasise that without question our record has improved,’ Bellinger told the panel. ‘We now have more rigorous laws, more rigorous procedures, more rigorous training and more rigorous monitoring […]