The Way We Were/Are

 The events examined in this report are unprecedented in U.S. history. In the course of the nation's many previous conflicts, there is little doubt that some U.S. personnel committed brutal attacks against captives, as have armies and governments throughout history.
   But there is no evidence there ever before had been the kind of considered and detailed discussions that occurred after September 11, directly involving a president and his top advisers on the wisdom, propriety and legality of inflicting pain and torment on some detainees in our custody.

~ The Report of the Constitution Project's Task Force on Detainee Treatment: http://detaineetaskforce.org/ 

 

   Buried beneath coverage of the manhunt for the Boston bomber and, to a lesser extent, news of the deadly explosion at a Texas fertilizer factory (that, apparently, had so many safety violations ~ and had last been inspected in 1985 ~ that the only surprise is that this tragedy hadn't happened sooner) was the release of a 577-page report by the nonpartisan Constitution Project on our post-9/11 treatment of detainees. The result of two years of independent investigation, it "is the examination of the treatment of suspected terrorists that official Washington has been reluctant to conduct," according to the introduction (story and video): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/torture-report_n_3092775.html
   A timeline of the Iraq War: http://thinkprogress.org/report/iraq-timeline/?mobile=nc