"R. James Woolsey, the former CIA director, has called the Constitution one of the best recruiting tools for intelligence services. His point is that those living under oppressive, dictatorial regimes sometimes will take incredible risks to step forward and secretly help in the battle for freedom and democracy."

If the US had the moral high road, if the US were still a nation of laws, if the US treated others the way it demands others treat it, there could well have been a different outcome to the "war on terror". (Or as a BBC commentator called it, "Bush's self-proclaimed war on terror".)

Instead, U.S. detainees abroad face a legal vacuum. 14,000 languish in American hands with few rights or charges filed. Every one of these people, guilty or innocent, every person held in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, every one whose house is shot up, car, all of 'em will continue to hate the US. And every family member.

Just as you or I would.

I think that using the worst behavior of the worst people on Earth to justify one's actions makes that one equal. And there goes the moral high road.

Remember, the US equates itself with Saddam. And the US doesn't seem like a morally superior place for a reason. Because the Christian Crusade started by Bush and indirectly endorsed by the Pope has rendered it immoral.