Stunning

Lederman says: This is what it has come to.

Our government is now unable to say whether it would be a violation of the Geneva Conventions for the Iranian government to waterboard a downed U.S. airman. How do officials such as Brigadier General Hartmann sleep at night, I wonder? How many decades will it take to undo this damage? Kudos to Lindsey Graham, whose disgust is really the only appropriate response. Now, if he can only muster some of his colleagues to support a two-thirds vote to override the forthcoming presidential veto of the law that would end the CIA's "enhanced interrogation techniques."

Stunning because I expect it from dissemblers like Gonzalez and Mukasey. Stunning because while I do expect it from anyone who believes it is necessary to protect the higher-ups who authorized the torture, including Democrats, I do not expect active-duty generals to demur when asked the question whether having one of their own subjected to waterboarding would violate the Geneva Conventions.

What we have become will take years to unravel but as the process begins, let it spare no soul who allowed it to happen.