OK Tom

YOU have admitted that the act was an excess. Until just about everybody admits this too, the USA will still be a fractured and obsessive society.

Until (just about) everyone admits that torture is NEVER defensible, the debate will continue.

The Geneva Convention was developed for a reason. It was a difficult compromise between different sorts of righteousness. We would all do well to return to it's basic principles.

If every state conducted their affairs on this basis, I think the world would be a better place, but there will always be people and groups who perceive an advantage by stepping outside this treaty, or feel that their prior oppression justifies 'fighting back" by any means.

The trouble is, if whole states descend to this level of behaviour, then there are no limits and a new Dark Age beckons.

And if the alleged "bestest" state in the world does this, then EVERYONE will copy them, with devilish local variants.

"We don't use waterboarding because water is sacred in our culture. We substitute fire..."