We must never forget

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Zero Dark Hurty
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Jon Stewart: "See, the thing about a moral compass is, if you take it out and check it from time to time, you don't have to wait for history to tell you you're facing the wrong direction."

We must never forget what fear made us do. We must never forget how our elected leaders betrayed our country in this way. We must never forget how idiotic and counterproductive this was, even if it hadn't been morally despicable (which it was).

Do you think the Germans and the Japanese weren't scared during World War II? Do you think they didn't have good reasons for torturing prisoners - or thought they did, at least? But we held them accountable for that, after the war.

In America, we've held no one accountable. In America, we swept it all under the rug (not just the torture, either, but the lies that got us to invade a completely innocent country, too). In America, those Republican leaders still claim they did the right thing - though they don't do it in foreign jurisdictions where they'd likely be arrested for war crimes!

This is what happens when you let irrational fear rule. Fear is a useful emotion, in moderation, but when hysterical, irrational, blind fear takes over, you can end up doing terrible, terrible things. And, maybe worst of all, stupid things, too.

The Bush administration didn't just trash America's reputation. They didn't just trample on our sacred honor. They didn't just extinguish that "shining light on a hill." They also did all that in a way that made us less safe.

And less proud to be Americans, too. That's what really hurts. It's a sad chapter in American  history, and we have too many of those, already.

PS. For more information, here's a Reuters article. And here's a link to the report itself.