AS writes:
My original concern with torture was moral and sprang from Abu Ghraib. It never occurred to me that the US would be doing it before. Poring over all the data, it became simply impossible to deny that Abu Ghraib was not an exception to the rule, but a horrible, predictable result of an existing torture policy that spread beyond the limits Cheney and Rumsfeld wanted.
See, this lack of circumspection is something that is not fathomable to me, except as a flaw, even a Conservative flaw. To me, it's a pitiably naive belief ... or worse.
What do you think it means to unleash the CIA, when done by a President who jettisoned the language of bringing terrorists to justice, the longstanding policy of all civilized nations, with aplomb and flair? If we're willing to let people "meet another kind of justice", as I recall the phrase the President used in a SOTU address, why on earth would anyone believe that torture was ... beyond them?
True, there were some mixed signals, with the President talking calmly about the blood-lust in the air post 9/11. But, still ...
