A new report published today by the non-partisan Constitution Project found that “it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture” during the conflicts that followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Perhaps more strikingly, the independent 11-member panel concluded that the decision to use torture as a means of interrogation was deliberate and involved “considered and detailed discussions” between president George Bush and his top advisers.
The New York Times reports:
Debate over the coercive interrogation methods used by the administration of President George W. Bush has often broken down on largely partisan lines. The Constitution Project’s task force on detainee treatment, led by two former members of Congress with experience in the executive branch—a Republican, Asa Hutchinson, and a Democrat, James R. Jones—seeks to produce a stronger national consensus on the torture question. …
While the Constitution Project report covers mainly the Bush years, it is critical of some Obama administration policies, especially what it calls excessive secrecy. It says that keeping the details of rendition and torture from the public “cannot continue to be justified on the basis of national security” and urges the administration to stop citing state secrets to block lawsuits by former detainees.
Amien Essif is a regular contributor to Working In These Times and maintains a blog called The Gazine, which focuses on consumerism, gentrification, and technology with a Luddite bent. His work has also appeared on the Guardian and CounterPunch. You can find him using Twitter reluctantly: @AmienChicago
