American torture

 I have, as many Americans, been ambivalent about prosecuting those officials who authorized or promoted acts of torture on behalf of my country over the past eight years or so. On the one hand, I found it impossible to believe that the highest government officials, in the legislative and executive, along with the military could suggest, approve or countenance torture as an official policy of the United States; it was far easier to treat the acknowledged acts of prisoner mistreatment and torture as President Bush stated on May 24^th, 2004, “[The prison at] Abu Ghraib were symbols of death and torture. That same prison became a symbol of disgraceful conduct by a few American troops who dishonored our country and disregarded our values.” Moreover, we were told, and I and many accepted, that any excesses were, in the words of New York Times’ Frank Rich, “If our country committed torture, surely it did so to prevent Armageddon, in a patriotic ticking-time-bomb scenario out of ’24’.”