["Opinion" U.S. Human Rights Claims Only Empty Rhetoric] The U.S. State Department on Monday published its annual report on the status of human rights in other countries in the year 2001. In this report, when referring to Iran, the United States repeated its allegations against the Islamic Republic but failed to provide any evidence in support of its baseless charges. Among the unfounded allegations was the claim that the Islamic Republic enjoys no social base and is an unpopular system because of its human rights violations. However, the massive participation of millions of Iranians in the grand rallies on Feb. 11 to mark the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution and defy U.S. threats against this country once again revealed the emptiness of U.S. charges against Iran. It is quite clear that such baseless accusations are only made to tarnish the image of Iran, since it follows an independent policy and refuses to bow to U.S. domination. It is interesting that the U.S. State Department's annual global human rights report came this year at a time when Washington itself is being sharply criticized by most countries and international human rights organizations for the killing of a large number of innocent civilians in Afghanistan and the torture and inhuman treatment of the Taleban and Al-Qaeda prisoners at its military base at Guantanamo Bay. Indeed, the U.S Administration, which claims to advocate international human rights issues and which tries to play the role of a world policeman, is actually condoning the most atrocious human rights violations committed in the United States itself. The ugliest crimes are perpetrated against inmates in U.S. prisons, and the mistreatment of ethnic minorities by the U.S. police is so appalling that on several occasions it has led to massive riots. For instance, a bloody riot was ignited in Cincinnati when an Afro-American youth was shot dead for no reason by police officers. Although the United States claims to advocate human rights, its harsh treatment of its own citizens and its hegemonic and belligerent policy towards other nations prove that the claim is just empty rhetoric.