WASHINGTON - December 12 - Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, issued the following statement in response to the executive summary and conclusions of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee report that concluded that detainee abuses in the war on terror were a direct result of the Bush administration's national security policies:

"This report's conclusions validate what everybody has long suspected -- detainee abuse was not the work of a few rogue actors but a direct result of a deliberate set of policies designed and supported at the highest levels of the U.S. government.  

"Amnesty International reiterates its call for a thorough and independent investigation of the widespread and systematic abuses undertaken in the name of national security.  Senior Bush administration officials were repeatedly warned that not only were these ‘interrogation' techniques counterproductive, but they were illegal and could expose people to prosecution.

"It is shameful that the only people held accountable for these actions have been a few soldiers who were operating in a command climate that pushed them to carry out these illegal and immoral actions. Today's report makes clear that blame is to be shared up as well as down the chain of command. It is time to bring all those responsible for this reprehensible chapter in America's history to justice and begin the nation's path back to the rule of law."   Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.

For more information, please visit www.amnestyusa.org/ctwj.