Several months ago, I wrote an article here entitled In Pursuit of the Beast, in which I decried the unjust detention and treatment of a great many prisoners at Guantánamo. I concluded the piece by noting that “the moral high ground does not belong to those who are simply less wicked. To lay claim deservedly to such territory demands one eschew wickedness entirely.” Since the war on terror began more than 5 years ago, the United States has engaged in many wicked acts in the name of national defense and security. Human rights have been knowingly violated. While there is little question that far too many nations engage in far worse violations of human rights, the fact that others are more wicked does not excuse this nation of its own wickedness nor from its responsibility to model and achieve a more pristine human rights record. Yesterday, in the mildest of ways, the State Department alluded to such, as reported by the New York Times:

U.S. Issues Annual Human Rights Report

The State Department declared today that the genocide in Darfur is the world’s gravest human rights abuse. It also issued tough critiques of Iran and North Korea, despite recent diplomatic openings to both nations.

The department, in its annual rights report, chastised Russia and China for a range of shortcomings, and it did not spare the governments the Bush administration supports in Afghanistan and Iraq from severe assessments. The rights report also castigated Pakistan, an American ally in the fight against terrorism, for multiple rights failures.

Unusually, the State Department acknowledged in the report that the United States, too, had fallen short of international standards in its handling of terrorist suspects. “Our democratic system of government is not infallible, but it is accountable,� the report said.

Barry Lowenkron, the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor matters, told reporters today: “We recognize that we are issuing this report at a time when our own record, and actions we have taken to respond to the terrorist attacks against us, have been questioned. We will continue to respond to the concerns of others.�

Amnesty International welcomed the new candor today. But its executive director for the United States, Larry Cox, said that “until the United States changes its own policies of holding detainees indefinitely, in secret prisons and without basic rights, it cannot credibly be viewed as a world human rights leader.� [full text]