Stop the apathy about use of torture

Between 2002 and 2003, the Justice Department issued several memos from its Office of Legal Counsel that justified using the interrogation tactics, including ones accepted as torture. The meetings were held in the White House Situation Room and attending the sessions were Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice; Dick Cheney signed off on these directives.

This appears to be solid evidence that our government has directed and approved torture, in conflict with accepted international law. Our Constitution, international law, rules of warfare and the treaties of the world-recognized Geneva Conventions have been violated by our own government, yet I don't see headlines informing the general public of what is happening in their name. Lower-ranking individuals accused of these crimes were not "rogues"; they were following orders coming from the White House.

Is the public that jaded, so cynical, that our Constitution and what it stands for means nothing any more? Where is the public outrage? Where are the journalists bringing this to the forefront of public attention and demanding further investigations? If the public is ever to awaken from its slumber while our national integrity and national honor is being destroyed, will it be too late to restore our democracy and our reputation?

Marie Harris Bartlett