The 9/11 Commission and Torture
Newsweek >> Originally Published 14th March 2009
The bipartisan panel that investigated the terrorist attacks was widely praised. But did its final report rely on suspect information?
Powerful Democrats on Capitol Hill are clamoring for creation of a bipartisan “9/11 style” commission to investigate the legality of the Bush administration’s antiterrorism tactics—especially its use of harsh interrogation techniques.
President Obama has been notably cool to the idea. But the case for a “truth” commission was bolstered by the disclosure this month that the CIA had destroyed 92 videotapes of the interrogations and confinement of Al Qaeda suspects. A dozen showed the use of “enhanced” techniques routinely described by human-rights groups as torture.