Quoted: The manner in which free societies lose their moral compass is always incremental. Step by step by step, certain core values are whittled away.

Quoted: So why has a legal policy statement been classified and withheld for five years? The answer to that question is now clear. The memorandum would have produced reactions of ridicule and outrage from throughout the professional community—as indeed it has. The author and the classifier knew that. They used classification as a political tool to keep something which is a quintessentially public document out of the reach of the public. Moreover, this classification reflects a regular pattern of abuse by the Bush Administration, a fact to be kept in mind when considering Attorney General Mukasey’s harsh and factually unfounded criticisms of pending legislation designed to reign in the use of state secrecy claims to cloak corruption and criminal conduct by state actors.

Quoted: In the last eighteen months, Antonin Scalia, one of the most influential judges in American history, has twice suggested that he would turn to a fictional television character named Jack Bauer to resolve legal questions about torture.

Quoted: America once fought to end torture. Now we fight to euphemize it. This is a classic WWII poster:

One reason why "getting out of Iraq" is not simply the morally superior position. Staying isn't either, of course; there are no good options.

Quoted: It is not just women who live in fear. Professionals such as engineers, doctors and scientists have been dragged from their homes and murdered.