Today, Virginia Sloan, President of The Constitution Project, called on commentators to end the rush to judgment that torture was used to obtain intelligence that ultimately led to the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden.  "It is disturbing that within hours of President Obama's announcement, advocacy groups and pundits have jumped to their own conclusions about whether torture was used to bring about these events. Aside from torture being illegal in the United States, it is utterly irresponsible to speculate that its use was pivotal in bringing bin Laden to justice," said Ms. Sloan.  

Late last year, The Constitution Project launched its bipartisan Task Force on Detainee Treatment, whose mission is to bring to the American people a comprehensive understanding of what is known and what may still be unknown about the past and current treatment of detainees by the U.S. government, as part of the counterterrorism policies of the Obama, Bush and Clinton administrations.  The 13-member Task Force includes former intelligence and national security officials, as well as former Members of Congress from Republican and Democratic administrations, judges, doctors, and other relevant experts.  The Task Force expects to release its findings in mid-late 2012.