All but one of the seven investigations launched by the Pentagon involved the military investigating itself.From the early days of the war in Afghanistan, the report says, there was increasing evidence that US troops were committing war crimes and acts of torture, yet for three years Mr Rumsfeld did nothing to stop such mistreatment. The Defence Secretary should be investigated under the doctrine of “command responsibility” – the legal principle that holds a superior responsible for crimes committed by his subordinates when he knew or should have known that they were being committed, but failed to take reasonable measures to stop them.HRW says Mr Rumsfeld approved interrogation techniques which violated the Geneva Conventions and the Convention against Torture, such as the use of guard dogs to frighten prisoners and painful “stress” positions. A good number of the victims were “civilians with no connection to al-Qa’ida or terrorism”. Only last week, a high-level US army investigation cleared four key officers overseeing operations in Iraq – including Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, who was the top US commander – of responsibility for abuse, The New York Times reported yesterday.A “wall of impunity” surrounded Mr Rumsfeld, Mr Tenet and other high-ranking civilian and military leaders, despite mounting evidence that mistreatment of prisoners resulted from their decisions to “bend, ignore, or cast rules aside”.Torture and abuse in dozens of US detention facilities worldwide, the organisation says in a 93-page report published today, “resulted in death or severe trauma” in many cases. But Human Rights Watch (HRW) says that nearly a year after the publication of photographs of US soldiers abusing Iraqi detainees, only low-ranking personnel have been called to account. The US should appoint a special prosecutor to mount a criminal investigation of the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, and the former head of the CIA, George Tenet, for torture and abuse of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and “secret locations” abroad, according to a leading US-based human rights organisation.
President George Bush vowed in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal that “wrongdoers will be brought to justice”. They are likely to make for queasily compelling viewing from the gallery..

The prosecution has already signalled its low opinion of the services in LA County, and is likely to allege that a representative of Jackson’s was in the room when the interviews took place.Also expected to take the stand are Jackson’s closest family members – the brothers who formed Motown’s Jackson Five, and also two of his children, Paris and Prince Michael. In fact, he said, “I believe I am the first person over 12 to be gagged by Michael Jackson.” He has been making pointed jokes ever since – suggesting, for example, that because his finances are in disarray, Jackson might argue he only puts his hands in boys’ trousers to look for lunch money.The most compelling defence witnesses may, in the end, be more anonymous ones – people like Jackson’s make-up artist, say, or his personal magician, who made an eyebrow-raising entrance into the courtroom last week.A Los Angeles child protective services officer who looked into the allegations when they were first raised and concluded they had no merit is also likely to take the stand. He may be called to testify that the family of the alleged victim asked him for money – a potentially valuable part of the defence’s contention that the allegations are nothing more than an attempted shakedown of a rich celebrity.Leno, however, was infuriated when a gagging order – later lifted – was imposed, preventing him from cracking jokes about the case. And he has repeatedly denied that anything untoward ever went on between them. He has also made clear, however, that he wants nothing to do with this trial, and will only come to the courtroom if he is dragged there on pain of contempt of court charges.Jay Leno could be another problem.

Who is willing to stand up and defend Michael Jackson? With the prosecution case winding down after almost two months of testimony, that is the question now hanging over the central California courtroom where the 46-year-old singer is on trial on child molestation charges. The witness list presented during the jury selection phase of the trial suggests it could be a star-studded affair – everyone from Elizabeth Taylor and Diana Ross to Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones and basketball star Kobe Bryant, along with celebrity interviewer Larry King and late-night chat show host Jay Leno.The list is misleading, however, because the judge has already made clear he won’t accept witnesses unless they are strictly relevant to the case. But Jackson’s reputation, or what is left of it, has taken a public shredding as one witness after another has testified to blatant sexual acts he allegedly committed on pre-pubescent boys over the past 15 years.To remedy that, the defence is likely to call a number of Jackson’s friends, family and loyal staff members. Bryant, for example, is almost certain to be kept off the witness stand – not least because he was himself charged with rape in Colorado last year (the case later collapsed).Some of the witnesses are also less than willing defenders of Jackson’s honour. Macaulay Culkin, for example, is certainly relevant to the case – two prosecution witnesses testified that they saw Jackson put his hands down his trousers when he was 10 years old. “John’s distinguished career and service to our nation demonstrates that he is the right man at the right time,” Mr Bush said. But the dilemma for the administration now is whether to cut its losses – a reflection of the growing perception that he does not have the temperament for such a senior diplomatic role – or dig its heels in.But Ms Townsel may not be finished yet.

She says she is preparing an affidavit that will detail all of Mr Bolton’s behaviour, both in Moscow and after she returned to Kyrgyzstan, and will send it to the committee, which is now due to vote on 12 May.. Senator George Voinovich, a Republican from Ohio, told the committee he was concerned that Mr Bolton’s behaviour did not meet the standards required.The White House has said it stands behind Mr Bolton and expects to see him confirmed. Carl Ford, a former State Department intelligence analyst, previously told the Senate committee that he considered Mr Bolton a “serial bully” after witnessing his behaviour towards another analyst who refused to alter his assessment of Cuba’s weapons ambitions. It was also revealed last week that the former secretary of state, Colin Powell, has privately expressed his concern about Mr Bolton’s temperament.Ms Townsel’s comments, which she initially revealed in a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had the effect last week of postponing the confirmation process for several weeks. She said she had written a letter to USAid complaining about a lack of funding from the main contractor, a company called International Business and Technical Consulting which Mr Bolton was representing, and claims he was sent to force her to retract her complaint.”There are a number of points I would make about this,” she added “His temper was just one of them. I believe he was pursuing his client’s interests, but a number of the things he said could have been career-shattering.”The allegations of Ms Townsel, a self-described liberal, add to a growing picture of Mr Bolton as an aggressive and often domineering figure, ready and willing to bully staff under him.

Mr Bolton, currently the Bush administration’s senior official on arms proliferation, was then a lawyer in private practice. She now believes he is unfit to represent the US.Ms Townsel, who runs her own agency in Dallas, told The Independent on Sunday that Mr Bolton had banged on her hotel room door and ranted at her over a two-week period in 1994. He also made disparaging remarks about her weight, accused her of theft and even questioned her sexuality.”I was alone in the hotel room. It was easy for him to drop by and bang on the door, trying to pressure me until I broke,” she said. “Several times a day he would pound on the door and shout ‘This is not going to go away.