It just sickens me to read this. And, like Dan Froomkin, I have to ask: “Where is the outrage?” Everybody in Congress and the media just la-de-das along as if this is all completely normal. Sad to say, maybe it is these days.

Still I cannot believe that we are even debating whether to use torture on detainees. First, all the professional intelligence opinions I’ve read say it doesn’t produce reliable information. But mostly, it’s wrong: It. is. mother. fucking. WRONG. Period. Done. Over.

Don’t give me the “ticking time bomb” scenario bullshit either. Here’s a novel idea: in the extremely unlikely event of such a situation arising, why not leave things the way they’ve always been: the President/CIA/Army/whoever do what they think they have to do, and afterwards face the consequences of a legal investigation. Instead of shredding the Constitution, the Geneva Convention, and endangering our captured troops, in order to pretend the real world resembles a TV show like 24.

But still, the Republican Presidential candidates (and let’s not forget Kit Bond, either) try to out-macho each other on this whole waterboarding thing. Equal parts mind-boggling and nauseating. Feh.

Update: As Digby says, Torture Works. Also, apologies to Simon and Garfunkel for the title today.

Update 2: I am on a weekly email list sent by our Congressman, Emanuel Cleaver, with whom I have always been pretty impressed. In today’s [Friday] post, he put it better than just about anyone I have heard: “America's policy and practice on how it treats those in our custody at home and abroad is far less about the effectiveness of torture than it is a fundamental question of who we are as a nation. Even if torture was reliable (and we know that it is not) it would not reflect who we are as a people. I am proud that this provision was included in the [Intelligence Authorization Conference Report]; I hope it sends a clear message that as representatives of the people, we do not believe agents of our government should behave like barbarians.”