Washington (AFP) – The United States on Sunday criticized China’s choice of an ethnic Uyghur to carry the Olympic torch, calling it an effort by Beijing to “distract us” from the mistreatment of the minority group. The appearance Friday of Dinigeer Yilamujiang, a 20-year-old cross-country skier, as the final torch bearer thrust her — and the Uyghur question — squarely onto the world stage. “This is an effort by the Chinese to distract us from the real issue here at hand,” US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Sunday on CNN: “that Uyghurs are being tortured, and Uyg…