Letters to the Editor
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You're too kind
As a country, we've known undeniably for almost two years now that we have a lawless government and a President who routinely orders our laws to be violated.
If people were paying attention, wouldn't it actually be longer than that? Didn't we have an election in 2004 without any of the four candidates for the White House mentioning Abu Graib? Or Maher Arar? (Has ANY politician ever mentioned him?) The press, the politicians, and the public have all been silent on the matter of torture, for reasons of political expedience (politicians and the press, who don't want to be labeled soft on terrorism) and simple apathy (the public, who would rather watch American Idol than give an hour of their day to figuring out what crimes their government is committing).
The Bush administration, in concert with the Republican party, has turned the public's government into a Kabuki exercise, and the Democrats have been enablers every time they mumble phrases about "compromise." There's no way to compromise on torture. Good journalists (Seymour Hersh) knew what was happening early on. The ones that mattered, though, the ones with the largest audience, were just too cowardly to call the Republicans out.