Unlike Walter Shapiro, I am not "ashamed to live in a country that somehow came to accept that torture and prisoner abuse were simply business as usual." I am most definitely ashamed of everyone who participated in the insanity of Abu-Ghraib, yes, but I do not paint all the rest of our military or our citizens or even our politicians with that same brush.

If Salon or Walter Shapiro has evidence that "the country" came to accept these abuses as "business as usual", then bring that material forward. It simply does not exist. To argue that Republicans in congress didn't investigate as fully as Shapiro felt necessary may have merit but it does not bolster that stubborn conclusion of his. For the record, the "country" was shocked and outraged at these photos and the vast, vast majority of our citizens believed that such practices had no place, even in a military prison.

I am a life-long liberal Democrat who worked many years as a journalist but when I see Walter Shapiro reaching so hard to make such a wrong-headed conclusion, I can see why many Americans are exasperated by both Democrats and journalists. Bad news should not be used as a "gotcha" for anybody's political beliefs. When people who represent my country behave badly, I understand the need for their punishment and it brings me sorrow. But I am not ashamed to live in my country. I am ashamed of them.

This is a serious issue. I defend Salon's right to publish still more of these pictures (if you feel you have to) but I am very angry that you are doing this, not out of love of country, but out of hate. Please, get a clue.

JFK himself said, "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived, and dishonest -- but the myth -- persistent, persuasive, unrealistic." Even President Kennedy would have acknowledged that there was a shadowy side to his presidency -- it's what led to his assassination. Congratulations to David Talbot for writing this book while it was still possible.

Here's an interesting what-if? If Kennedy had been shot at in Dallas, but they had missed, his survival would hardly have ushered in the peaceful alternative writers love to talk about. In truth, JFK and RFK would have been obsessed with the very issues that Talbot talks about -- who tried to hit him and why? And, with JFK still alive, RFK would have been put on point to protect the president both physically and from investigations. But the investigations would have come anyway, and the myth of Camelot would have been lost.

If they'd missed in Dallas, John Kennedy would have ended up impeached and nothing his Attorney General could do would have stopped it.

Bryce Zabel

The actual date of Brown versus the Board of Education was May 17, 1954 and not 1955 as it states in your post. This is pretty clear from the history books and something I'm sensitive to, given that it is the day I was born.