NEW YORK, Jan 14: A US Human Rights group on Thursday urged the Bush administration to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate any US officials who participated in, ordered or had command responsibility for torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment at Abu Ghraib and any US military bases the world over.

In its annual report the New York-based Human Rights Watch pointed out that senior administration officials have sought to blame the scandal on the young soldiers they sent to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, instead of accepting responsibility themselves for the policies and orders that weakened the rules against torture and inhumane treatment.

At a press conference in New York the group's director Kenneth Roth said that the proposed investigator should investigate higher ups - including Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and Attorney General-designate Alberto Gonzales - who were the architects of the policies that led to "torture."

"There's evidence indicating that policy decisions taken at the most senior levels led to an atmosphere that led to the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and other prisons," said Mr. Roth.

"If the US is to redeem its credibility, it needs not only to repudiate these practices but also to conduct an independent investigation and to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice," he added.

Asked if he believed President Bush had personally approved the policies his group blames for the abuses, Roth said:, "We don't know the role of President Bush and were not trying to make cheap allegations".

"But there's clear evidence of the involvement of Gonzales and of Rumsfeld, but we, at this stage, do not know which particular individuals were involved," he said. "What we do know is that serious crimes were committed and there is a genuine need for investigation."

Mr. Roth said only the attorney general is authorized to appoint a special prosecutor and there's a long tradition for such appointments whenever there is reason to doubt the independence of the Justice Department.

Explaining his demand for a special prosecutor, he said: "I don't think American people will be satisfied with the trial of low-level private sergeants. "There is something unseemly about senior administration officials simply blaming their low-level subordinates."

Mr Roth said that a special prosecutor should investigate violations of two US laws - the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1994, which criminalizes torture committed anywhere in the world by US forces, and the War Crimes Act of 1996, which criminalizes any serious violation of the Geneva Conventions.

GENEVA CONVENTION: "That's why the Bush administration kept saying that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to the Afghan conflict," Roth said. "They were under the misguided impression that by saying that they could avoid criminal prosecution in the United States."