Looking at America

December 31, 2007
Looking at America

There are too many moments these days when we cannot recognize our country. Sunday was one of them, as we read the account in The Times of how men in some of the most trusted posts in the
nation plotted to cover up the torture of prisoners by Central Intelligence Agency interrogators
by destroying videotapes of their sickening behavior. It was impossible to see the founding
principles of the greatest democracy in the contempt these men and their bosses showed for the
Constitution, the rule of law and human decency.

It was not the first time in recent years we've felt this horror, this sorrowful sense of
estrangement, not nearly. This sort of lawless behavior has become standard practice since Sept.
11, 2001.

The country and much of the world was rightly and profoundly frightened by the single-minded
hatred and ingenuity displayed by this new enemy. But there is no excuse for how President Bush
and his advisers panicked — how they forgot that it is their responsibility to protect
American lives and American ideals, that there really is no safety for Americans or their country
when those ideals are sacrificed.

Out of panic and ideology, President Bush squandered America's position of moral and political
leadership, swept aside international institutions and treaties, sullied America's global image,
and trampled on the constitutional pillars that have supported our democracy through the most
terrifying and challenging times. These policies have fed the world's anger and alienation and
have not made any of us safer.

In the years since 9/11, we have seen American soldiers abuse, sexually humiliate, torment and
murder prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq. A few have been punished, but their leaders have never
been called to account. We have seen mercenaries gun down Iraqi civilians with no fear of
prosecution. We have seen the president, sworn to defend the Constitution, turn his powers on his
own citizens, authorizing the intelligence agencies to spy on Americans, wiretapping phones and
intercepting international e-mail messages without a warrant.

We have read accounts of how the government's top lawyers huddled in secret after the attacks
in New York and Washington and plotted ways to circumvent the Geneva Conventions — and both American and international law — to hold anyone the president chose indefinitely without
charges or judicial review.