Torture

[Content Note: Torture; war.]

A nonpartisan, independent review of interrogation and detention programs used by the United States following the 9/11 attack has concluded that the US practiced torture (no shit):

[The study, by an 11-member panel convened by the Constitution Project, a legal research and advocacy group] concludes that "it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture" and that the nation's highest officials bore ultimate responsibility for it.

The sweeping, 577-page report says that while brutality has occurred in every American war, there never before had 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 use of torture, the report concludes, has "no justification" and "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 task force found "no firm or persuasive evidence" that these interrogation methods produced valuable information that could not have been obtained by other means.

..."I had not recognized the depths of torture in some cases," [James R. Jones, a Democrat] said. "We lost our compass."

There is much, much more at the link. I encourage you to read the whole article, because I am only going to highlight one other bit:

Like the still-secret Senate interrogation report, the Constitution Project study was initiated after President Obama decided in 2009 not to support a national commission to investigate the post-9/11 counterterrorism programs, as proposed by Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, and others. Mr. Obama said then that he wanted to "look forward, not backward."

Welp. Looking forward, it doesn't appear that we're doing a whole lot better.