Finally, some progress on the McCain amendment: "White House backs torture ban law."
It's a pity the Administration had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the post-medieval world. It's a pity they couldn't see the damage this issue was causing to America's credibility. It's a pity they couldn't appreciate the corrupting influence of this policy.
This episode should help all of us to appreciate that fact that the tendency to sin, and to sin big, is universal. No government, party, nationality, religious group, etc., is immune to this tendency. No group has a monopoly on righteousness, not even the U.S. Government, not even the Roman Catholic Church. [The Church can only claim, based on Matt 16:18, divine protection from irreversible corruption, and, based on Matt 16:19 and Matt 18:18, prevented from making false claims that are declared definitively (either ex cathedra or in extraordinary Magisterium).]
It would be an understatement to declare that the behavior of our nation's government bears monitoring.