Had to switch computers so my son could go to bed.

To say it will be a difficult and tricky process is not to say it can not, should not, or will not be done. To howl for immediate blood, however, certainly gives the appearance of vengeance rather than justice being the primary motive. And we all know that in the public arena, appearance matters.

I also think it very naive to believe, as apparently many people in this country do, that the Bush administration is the first ever in the history of the USA to condone the use of torture. It is ironic that the Bush administration's efforts to provide a legal basis for allowing torture resulted in public disclosure of the practice of torture by agents of the US government that have likely gone on since we first became a nation - only it was "off the books" or "under the table."

Maybe we should thank them for bringing these practices into the public domain in such a way that we average citizens can no longer turn a blind eye.    I imagine that in previous administrations, these activities were of the sort that most presidents took the position of "I won't ask, and don't you tell me."

I should say I certainly have no evidence or knowledge that US agents have used torture in the past in a systemic, albeit covert, way.   But I have no reason to suppose otherwise, based on our history of other covert operations that run contrary to our values (i.e. arranging for assassinations, covert funding of rebellions that were politically expedient, or overt support for oppressive regimes when it was in our material interests - The Shah of Iran, for example, or any number of dirty little Central American operations).