Reply #21: The 9/11 commissioners violated the Convention Against Torture.

[Usrename]

Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Article 15

Each State Party shall ensure that any statement which is established to have been made as a result of torture shall not be invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made.

http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/h_cat39.htm




I find it very illuminating that not a single member has come forward to denounce their final work product for having used statements that were made as a result of torture.

They KNEW this was an important issue when they wrote their report, and they now must KNOW that folks were tortured by the interrogators in direct response to the questions that the commission submitted.

From the text box that they actually included on page 146 of the official 9/11 Commission Report:

“Chapters 5 and 7 rely heavily on information obtained from captured al-Qaeda members. A number of these ‘detainees’ have firsthand knowledge of the 9/11 plot. Assessing the truth of statements by these witnesses—sworn enemies of the United States—is challenging. Our access to them has been limited to the review of intelligence reports based on communications received from the locations where the actual interrogations take place. We submitted questions for use in the interrogations, but had no control over whether, when, or how questions of particular interest would be asked. Nor were we allowed to talk to the interrogators so that we could better judge the credibility of the detainees and clarify ambiguities in the reporting. We were told that our requests might disrupt the sensitive interrogation process. We have nonetheless decided to include information from captured 9/11 conspirators and al-Qaeda members in our report. We have evaluated their statements carefully and have attempted to corroborate them with documents and statements of others. In this report, we indicate where such statements provide the foundation for our narrative. We have been authorized to identify by name only ten detainees whose custody has been confirmed officially by the US government.”

http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf

The report extensively uses statement from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who we now know was waterboarded hundreds of times during this time period.

Why haven't ANY of the commissioners denounced the criminal conduct of their own commission, or the work product that they produced? These guys were all supposed to be the most trustworthy people available, beyond reproach. Really?