Amnesty International is accusing the United States of turning the world into a global battlefield in the so-called war on terror. On Wednesday, Amnesty issued its annual report on the state of human rights. The criticism of the United States was multifold: Amnesty called for Guantanamo to be shut down, for senior government officials to be held accountable for authorizing torture, and for an end to the practice known as extraordinary rendition. Amnesty’s report also highlighted human rights abuses in many other areas including Iraq, Russia and Zimbabwe and Sudan.

Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan: “Darfur is a bleeding wound on the world’s conscience. The U.S. government has been outspoken on the need to protect civilians in Darfur, and we welcome that very much. But nothing proves more clearly the loss of U.S. moral authority than its failure to persuade the Sudanese government to accept U.N. peacekeepers.”

For Israel and the Occupied Territories, Amnesty says Israel killed more than 650 Palestinians last year, three times the number of Palestinians killed in 2005. Half of the Palestinians killed last year were unarmed civilians. The Palestinian death toll included 120 children. During the same period, Palestinian militants killed 27 Israelis, including 20 civilians and one child.