Torture at the Corner

Head over the World o'Crap, where our friend S.Z. has outdone herself taking down the folks at the Corner on this whole torture issue --

http://blogs.salon.com/0002874/

Though she hasn't made *me* feel any better.

I'm seriously baffled by this torture mess. Are we really just -- as a country, I mean -- are we really going to do nothing about it?

People keep telling me, like it's no big deal, "We've always tortured people! Didn't you ever hear about X?"

Or, "They're just terrorists."

Or, "It wasn't real torture."

But (a) So what if we did torture people in the past? Or slaughtered innocents in the past? Or committed genocide in the past, or did whatever evil things in the past? Because we have done evil things in the past does not give us a free pass to continue doing evil now.

And (b) Even if they are just terrorists, which by the way most aren't, that's beside the point, what they are. What we are is the point here. And what we do with our prisoners is the point here.

And (c) Yes, it was. Cut me a break.

And we're endorsing it, as a country? Saying it's just fine with us? Saying torturing prisoners is what America is about?

For Christ's sake. We've become the Nazis.