keeping America safe for eight years, freeing millions from a dictator, creating democracy, fighting the taliban, fighting AIDS in Africa, saving live in Indonesia among a thousand other extrordinary good acts.

"keeping America safe for eight years (torture had nothing to do with keeping America safe; the opposite is actually true), freeing millions from a dictator (and here I thought the Iraq war was all about the "slam dunk" case for WMDs, not deposing the dictator we supported for eight years), creating democracy (yes, thank Dubya for Hamas), fighting the taliban (we've certainly vanquished them after eight years, haven't we?), fighting AIDS in Africa (solved that one, too, didn't he, except for the millions infected and dying), saving live in Indonesia (just as he and Brownie did after Katrina, eh?) among a thousand other extrordinary good acts (I think you're confusing the son with the father and his "Thousand Pints of Lite". You forgot to mention that we've taken UBL "dead or alive," have a vibrant, self-stimulating economy, and a military second to none in the number of deployments. Good thing you don't let facts get in the way of your opinions or your gut, Farra.

I'm with you Mr. Romero but this just isn't going to happen. It's the American way, when the hypocrisy of "don't look back, just keep moving forward", the subjectivity involved in that meets the objectivity of the views the republicans have for the supreme court, it makes one's head explode.

See I've learned during my formative years that the right is apparently the only patriotic Americans and the Democrats are too light footed to assert themselves, maybe due to threatening hate speech by the neocons or violence performed upon them as of recently. Don't you understand that the liberals and democrats no longer have the will to fight the republicans? We might as well cede power back over to them as it is and let all of the blame fall squarely on their heads. I almost voted for McCain for that one reason. Except that would have been stupid, or would it have?

My advice to you is to stop talking and just do it. You probably still have enough support to do it, as long as it isn't past the statute of limitations both within the public at large and by law.

These men are to be commended for selfless dedication to restoring the faithful observance of, and adherence to, the precepts establishing the Rule of Law set forth in the United States Constitution.

They are to be all the more commended for undertaking this worthy mission in the face of a degraded and malevolent political culture which has deliberately forsaken and abandoned the rule of law, save as a foil for undiminished lip service.

The present maladministration, despite its leader's vaunted familiarity with Constitutional Law, has persisted in its predecessor's predilection for flinging down that venerable and hallowed document and dancing upon it. It's even adding choreography of its own, alas!

And the new monarch's determination to scrape these indigestible issues from the royal plate into the Memory Hole, as his servant scrapes the leavings from his dinnerware into the First Garbage, is reinforced by the reactionary low-information troglodytes, the demagogues who run them, the corporate media celebrity infotainwhores, and especially the feckless, craven, and self-serving politicians-- all of whom also have other, fresher fish to fry.

As usual, the superficially distinct parties will make common cause, and the lions will lay down with the wolverines to frustrate the pursuit of justice and thwart the righteous exercise of law ostensibly deriving its authority from the consent of the governed in a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Both men, but especially Lt. Col. Vandeveld, risk alienation and disapprobation, professionally and socially, from within the ranks for resisting the top-down undertow towards Moving Forward.

These men deserve thanks for undertaking such a thankless task.

Pursuing those who tortured is perfectly justified. But what about the bigger picture - the unprovoked invasion of Iraq. A reasonable analogy would be the police charging someone with robbing a supermarket but ignoring the fact that the offender killed everyone in the store in the process. That Bush and his neocon fanatics are guilty of horrendous crimes is beyond dispute. Or is invasion now a respectable option, available to all countries for whatever reason(s) their gullible and fearful populations will swallow.

Now please get it done.

No one would have been tortured without Bush's authorization. Sure, prosecute Cheney, Yoo, Addison, Rice, Powell, Gonzales, Ashcroft, and all the other top Bush officials who played a role in torture, but it would be a farce not to include Bush himself.

america is a monarchy, and only committed to the policies of the king.

since the king may lie at will, even he may not know his policy in advance, since his only sure principle is: get power/keep power.

if you want principle in national policy, you must divorce that policy from the career path of politicians. there is a way, it's called 'democracy', and it is the step forward which must underpin the direction of the nation 'for the people.'

this isn't going to happen. neither is accountability within the political and commercial 'grandee' class. democracy needs citizen quality people, and they are not raised in an oligarchy.

I know, the democracy is at stake and all, blah, blah, blah. Obama isn't going to do it because he faces exposure. Unless you point at him, you are getting nowhere with this boring issue.

Yes, yes and yes. Criminal Prosecutions. Now.

The only thing I disagree with in this article is the idea that "we have been willing to look ourselves in the mirror, acknowledge our wrongdoing and hold ourselves accountable". We have a long history of abject, immoral behavior that we never face up to and never learn from. Saddam Hussein? We put him in power? Al Qaida? They rose from the mujahideen, who we armed and funded. We helped overthrow a democratically elected government in Iran to put in place the autocratic shahs, paving the way for the Iranian revolution and our current difficulties. We never fully held the Reagan administration responsible for Iran Contra. We overthrew Allende and put Pinochet in power. We supported death squads in El Salvador, and the Contras in Nicaragua. We killed 2 million Vietnamese. We supported Indonesia's brutal occupation of East Timor.

I could go on, but I think you got my point. We have a long history of not looking ourselves in the mirror and not holding our elected officials accountable. Perhaps if we had, the Bush administration would have tread more carefully. And this is precisely why the Bush administration must be held responsible and face criminal charges for their malfeasance. Future adminisrations must know that if they flagrantly violate they will face the consequences.