I can't believe...

I can't believe that I live in a country that condones torture. I didn't think that was something Americans did to other people, except illegally. (And, yes, I know, I'm being willfully forgetful when it comes to racial harassment and the history of slavery.)

The idea that the President of the United States would authorize torture -- and pretend that what's being done is something other than torture -- seriously erodes my concept of what it means to be an American. Hearing the news of Abu Ghraib was the first time in my life I ever felt ashamed to be an American. I would like to think that the "ho hum" response has been because the Bush administration has done such an effective job of banning the use of the word, thanks to an accommodating press and an apparent phobia on the part of the Democrats.

One reader of Andrew Sullivan's blog enjoins Andrew, an ardent opponent of the administration's torture policy, to "shut up" about it, insisting that Andrew's lost the debate. What debate? When did we ever debate this? When has the Bush Administration ever done anything other than assert its "right" to "question terrorists," as if the only way to question them is to torture them?

It's sickening.