We all should be outraged by torture

On April 18, the Daily Herald printed an Associated Press report on the Justice Department investigation into how the United States government came to use torture as a means for obtaining information.

ABC News has recently reported that President Bush's top national security advisers (including the vice president and the secretary of state) held numerous meetings in the White House to approve the use of abusive interrogation techniques (including water boarding and sleep deprivation) on high-value detainees.

Not only do these meetings implicate top Administration officials in condoning illegal acts that constitute torture, but as ABC News reported, the president admitted he was aware of these meetings and approved of them.

As a U.S. citizen and as a pastor, I am indescribably saddened by this compelling evidence that our highest leaders have condoned acts of torture.

I am also disappointed by the relatively mild response from the media and from the public to these revelations.

I would have expected that news would have been met with a widespread public outcry and with a deluge of press interest in the issue.

Are we as a people so overwhelmed with the prevalence of evil acts taking place in the world around us, that we are willing to believe that any act can be deemed acceptable, no matter how morally repugnant?

I hope that this newspaper will take the opportunity to editorialize against the use of torture.

Rev. Jan Niemeyer

Arlington Heights