ACLU Blog: When "Torture" Is the Only Way to Describe It

"When 'enhanced interrogation techniques' are discussed in abstract and generalized terms, it's much easier to trivialize human suffering, or to ignore it. Abu Ghraib has been universally condemned--or almost universally, anyway--not because the abuses there were any more brutal than elsewhere, but because the ghoulish photos of human beings on leashes, or stacked naked in a pyramid, or standing hooded on a box, were tangible and real in a way that words on a page simply cannot be."

"But the most profound and lasting legacy of the Bush Administration's morbid embrace of torture may lie not in the injuries to detainees or their interrogators, but in the harm to this country's reputation and standing — and its security. By bringing the words of the victims into U.S. courtrooms, we begin the long and difficult process of restoring America's legal and moral standing. We can only hope that some federal judges will see past our clients' words to their humanity."

Follow the link for the whole posting.

UPDATE: And go to this link for more on the story: The Black Sites: A rare look inside the C.I.A.’s secret interrogation program.