[JURIST] US Lieutenant-General Martin Dempsey said Wednesday that he thought Iraqi commanders were responsible for recent cases of detainee torture [JURIST report] by Iraqi security forces. Dempsey, who oversees the US program to train security forces in Iraq [JURIST news archive], said he believed the recent cases of abuse were caused by a lack of leadership, rather than by individual soldiers or police or shortcomings of the US training regimen. Dempsey said the US program educated Iraqi security forces on human rights and the rule of law. US troops found 170 detainees imprisoned in an interior ministry building in Baghdad earlier this month, and several detainees showed signs of being tortured and being in need of food and water. The Iraqi government has promised a probe [JURIST report] into the torture, but has not delivered any results [Aljazeera report] in two weeks as promised. AFP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Iraq president rejects rights comparison to Saddam regime
• Former Iraq PM Allawi says rights abuses as bad as under Saddam
• Iraq minister rejects claims of torture, death squads
• Iraqis march in Baghdad torture protest
• UN rights commissioner calls for international inquiry into Iraqi prisons
• Iraqi government admits security forces tortured, abused detainees