Does This Make You Proud to Be an American?

Marty Lederman of the legal affairs blog Balkinization has this post on the new article in the New Yorker by Jane Mayer describing the treatment we have given those kidnap victims we have taken to the black hole sites. Don't read either piece unless you are prepared to be sickened and disgusted about what we have become in our sniveling fear and in our obedience to the criminals running this country. Just one snippet for a hint of the detail laid bare:

"The C.I.A.’s interrogation program is remarkable for its mechanistic aura. 'It’s one of the most sophisticated, refined programs of torture ever,' an outside expert familiar with the protocol said. 'At every stage, there was a rigid attention to detail. Procedure was adhered to almost to the letter. There was top-down quality control, and such a set routine that you get to the point where you know what each detainee is going to say, because you’ve heard it before. It was almost automated. People were utterly dehumanized. People fell apart. It was the intentional and systematic infliction of great suffering masquerading as a legal process. It is just chilling.'"