It's bad enough that what we have suspected has been proven, acknowledged and reported.

What's even worse than the fact that this will be underreported at best is that there are many American citizens who will justify this horrific series of events before they even fully understand it. It is the blind allegiance to leadership that causes first corruption, then destruction of the democratic state.

We are becoming what we resist. We have attacked the symptoms without understanding the cause, and we are already paying the steep price of a diseased body politic.

I sincerely hope that we reach bottom soon; I don't think that our precious republic will withstand much more abuse.

what are 'cables'? is that like sending a telegram??? why does are government still send 'cables'....the internet is everywhere...

Remember when political disagreements in this country used to be about stuff like tax rates and trade policies, instead of whether torture is an acceptable practice? God, I miss those days.

Why don't you do an expose on the Americans and allies who have been tortured by Insurgents, AlQaida and Iran? No, you guys would NEVER have an agenda in your journalism.

I am disappointed that the terrorist wasn't flown to a country that knows how to torture effectively for information; like Vietnam. If the Egyptians are so good, then how come, as the saying goes, the Israelis have their phone number?

Nice to know that we are able to accommodate them so well. Hope they liked the stay.

After reading the posts on this topic, I can clearly see what's wrong with us. It just happens to be all the people like you, and your bleeding heart ideals. If it takes torture on one of these animals to stop all the killing, i'm more than all for it. On the other hand if all of you feel so strongly about this, why don't you offer to take them into your homes and neighborhoods and show them the wrongs of their ways.

Moral high ground? Are you kidding me? Seriously, stop making yourselves look ignorant of our government, and many other governments, historical participation in this type of "conduct". Pick an era, any era, and you can find the U.S. of A and it's representatives behaving as the humans you evidently wish we weren't.

Remember the SS massacre of U.S. POW's during the Battle of the Bulge. Read up on the retaliation by American soldiers, ordered by their commanders, as the tide in that battle turned.

What about the firebombing of Dresden? How was the West won? Ask any tribal member.

Seriously, get off your collective high horse, put away your political axes and thank whomever you worship the job is getting done at the comparatively insignificant cost we've paid so far. By the way, how was that morning latte?

All this talk of prisoners. I suggest we quit taking them. Just kill them all. Problem solved. They cannot attack us. They cannot complain about their treatment. Run up the red flag. No quarter given, none expected.

Dear Americans, please, please use your ballot boxes to get your government under control. The rest of us are really not looking forward to having to come in and change your regime for you.

p.s. here's a tip to get you started: Fix your justice department first. All men are supposed to be equal before the law. That is clearly not the case today in the USA. Equal enforcement of the law is fundamental to freedom and justice.

Isaac:
"the job is getting done at the comparatively insignificant cost we've paid so far"

What a sick, sick statement. This 'job' is an illegal war based on lies, mis-information, and government-led terror. No cost is insignificant in this case.

It seems no one has a sense of history. You act as though America is getting worse. Try looking up our government's and soldiers' actions during WWII. The American military and government are far more humane today than they have been in the past. The world never was and never will be a Utopia of peace and freedom. It is a world governed by force of arms and ironically the country you seem to hate is the very country that allows you to say such things openly without threat of being tortured. Try being in Saddam's Iraq and criticizing him. Then you will know torture.

Get real people, you fight fire with fire, this is war! Torture has been around forever and it will not go away!

Wahhh, terrorists were tortured by their brethren in Muslim Countries. Jimmy crack corn and I DON'T CARE. People need to wake up, those terrorists want us DEAD. There is no negotiating with muslims who are willing to blow themselves up, and kill 75 other muslims just to take out two american soldiers! Wake up people, this is just like WWII, only instead of Nazis, its Muslim Extremists. Nazi's wanted the Jews gone, so do the Muslim Extremists. Japan sucker punched us at Pearl Harbor, Extremist Muslims sucker punched us in the World Trade Center. We did not become the greatest nation on earth by dying needlessly for our country, we did it by making Nazi's Kamikaze Pilots, and now Muslim Extremists die for theirs and their ideals. If it takes sinking to their level, oh well, war is hell, get it done with as quickly as possible, LIVE to regret it after, unless you prefer to play nice and let the enemy sucker punch us again, like they did in Madrid in March 04, and London in July 05.

No, I mean you're right Isaac, the United States has never had the moral high ground, but damned if we don't like to pretend we did at some point. However, just because there have been historical atrocities doesn't mean we have to keep making the same damn mistakes over and over again. Maybe one of these days the US will stop acquiring wealth and power at the expense of brown people from far away but based on past experiences that's a long way from happening.

That being said Mike, I really don't understand your logic. You seem to believe that torturing people is a good way to obtain information, but that is clearly not the case. (ask John McCain about that, he used to just recite the starting lineup of the Chicago Bears when pressed for information from the Vietcong)

It's my firm belief that the best way to stop being seen by the Muslim world, and the world at large, as as an evil they must fight is to, you know, stop being evil.

And if you truly don't think that torturing people is evil then you clearly haven't read 1984 closely enough.

If I believed that torture would stop killing, I could accept it. Go on--show me how this works. Prove to me that torturing a human being does anything more than to allow others to justify more violence.

Did you read the article, or did you just react? The point is that the man lied to stop being tortured. Torture doesn't work: The information extracted under duress isn't reliable.

It simply perpetuates the violence. What do you suppose the impact on the torturers are?

Some of you seem to believe that we're somehow stuck with killing, and torture, and cheating, and lying. You have my pity, but not my sympathy. You have been conned into believing that everyone is inherently evil.

What's really sick is that you're very likely to have learned this in a church.

Hmmmmmm.....

I haven't heard ole Tim Russert or Chris Matthews be concerned at all about this issue. In fact, in the Scooter Libby trial transcript, we all learned that the office of the Vice President considered Russert's Meet the Press as their "best venue," with Russert NEVER asking the VP any challenging questions.

And yet, here we all are, with Russert "strutting his stuff" for asking Hillary tough questions at the debate (and quite confrontational) for not releasing records as a First Lady.

Anyone ever hear Russert challenge Cheney for not releasing records as a Vice President?

Me neither. Nuff said.

Their BEST VENUE. That's what the VP's staff said of Russert, while she was under oath in a federal court.

fact is, Sen. Hillarius will swear all day long that she don't take kindly to torture, yet even her left wingnuts understand that if a bomb were hidden in south florida, threatening thousands of hardcore dem voters, she would personally be hooking up the wires to the guys to stop that!!

Special Prosecutor.

[...]thank whomever you worship the job is getting done at the comparatively insignificant cost we've paid so far.[...]

Posted by: Isaac | Nov 7, 2007 2:43:57 PM

The job is getting done? Ha!

Clearly, you've indulged in something a bit stronger than latte this morning, Isaac- that or you're simply foolish.

Aside from treating the US Presidency like a monarchy, King George has created about 50-100 years worth of damage control work for the USA, even amongst her allies.

Pointing out that previous administrations have also been guilty of war crimes and human rights violations worthy of a trip to The Hague does not in any way justify those actions, does it?