After a two-year investigation, bipartisan legal research and advocacy group the Constitution Project released a report confirming that “it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture” subsequent to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The nearly 600 page report, drafted by a non-partisan, 11-member task force, was released yesterday during a press conference hosted by Asa Hutchinson (Task Force Co-Chair) – former Undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and former GOP Congressman Ambassador James R. Jones (Task Force Co-Chair) – former Ambassador to Mexico, and former Democratic Congressman.
The announcement for the press conference included the following summary:
The report of the blue ribbon Task Force on Detainee Treatment is the most comprehensive, bipartisan investigation into the detention and treatment of suspected terrorists yet published. The product of more than two years of research, analysis and deliberation by the Task Force members and staff, it provides the American people with a broad understanding of what is known — and what may still be unknown — about the past and current treatment of suspected terrorists detained by the U.S. government during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations, and across multiple geographic theatres, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo and the so-called “black sites.”
One of the key debates following the 9/11 attack is where or not torture is a necessary and effective method for combatting terrorist attacks and this report states the treatment of detainees after September 11 was not only unprecedented, but was completely unjustified.
Among numberous conclusions, the report held that:
U.S. forces, in many instances, used interrogation techniques on detainees that constitute torture. American personnel conducted an even larger number of interrogations that involved “cruel, inhuman, or degrading” treatment. Both categories of actions violate U.S. laws and international treaties. Such conduct was directly counter to values of the Constitution and our nation.
and
There is no firm or persuasive evidence that the widespread use of harsh interrogation techniques by U.S. forces produced significant information of value. There is substantial evidence that much of the information adduced from the use of such techniques was not useful or reliable.
Of particular interest, the report noted that never before had there been
“the kind of considered and detailed discussions that occurred after 9/11 directly involving a president and his top advisers on the wisdom, propriety and legality of inflicting pain and torment on some detainees in our custody.”
The report also concluded that this torture “damaged the standing of our nation, reduced our capacity to convey moral censure when necessary and potentially increased the danger to U.S. military personnel taken captive.”
The New York Times called the report “the most ambitious independent attempt to date to assess the detention and interrogation programs.”
You can go to the official website for the Constitution Project’s Task Force on Detainee Treatment here, and can view an analysis by PBS below followed by a brief overview from NBC.
From the PBS News Hour: Jeffrey Brown talks to two of the report authors, former congressman James Jones and retired Army Brig. Gen. David Irvine.
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