It seems most appropriate that the right phrases should come from John McCain, Senator from Arizona, and former torturee at the hands of the North Vietnamese some 50 years ago. This is what he said yesterday, in response to the CIA Torture Report:

“I understand the reasons that governed the decision to resort to these interrogation methods, and I know that those who approved them and those who used them were dedicated to securing justice for the victims of terrorist attacks and to protecting Americans from further harm. … But I dispute wholeheartedly that it was right for them to use these methods, which this report makes clear were neither in the best interests of justice nor our security nor the ideals we have sacrificed so much blood and treasure to defend. We are always Americans, and different, stronger, and better than those who would destroy us.”

While I appreciate him giving those individuals the benefit of the doubt, I’m not sure all of them deserve the credit he bestows on them. Not everyone was dedicated to securing justice for the victims of terrorist attacks. Not all of them were interested in protecting Americans from further harm. Some of them were sadistic, venal cowards who took advantage of a troubled time to take advantage of powerless individuals, many of whom were only guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And a few perpetrators were handsomely rewarded financially – to the tune of $81 million. And an additional $1 million to pay for legal indemnification for their war crimes. War crimes. Say it again: war crimes.

All of the discussion that took place yesterday after the report’s release made me marvel at the capacity of many to rationalize egregiously inappropriate behavior. Did it work? Did it not? What difference does that make? Torture is torture is torture. Torture by any other euphemistic name is torture. When a society practices and condones torture, it is doomed to suffer the same fate someday, when somebody bigger and badder gets hold of them. History proves that repeatedly. Ask John McCain about that.

I want to believe we are a nation of people who do not condone that kind of behavior. As a nation, we should insist that the CIA as an institution be abolished. Yes, I said it: the CIA. Abolished. Eliminated. Done away with. That organization could just as easily go by the name KGB, Gestapo. Stasi, Pinochet regime, or any other organization that harbors individuals that take pleasure in watching others’ humiliation and degradation. We can live without it. And if we can’t, do you want to live in a world where you fear the car arriving in the night to take you somewhere you know from which you will likely not return?

But, you protest, that could never happen. We’re Americans – we’re different, stronger, and better than those who would destroy us. Tell that it the individuals who were repeatedly waterboarded. Tell that to the Iraqis in the Abu Ghraib prison with electrodes on their testicles and a hood over their head, a smirking Lyndie England giving the ‘thumbs up’ to their torture.

None of the facts in the report should be a surprise to anyone. Yet the overwhelming response yesterday was one of denial, justification and nit-picking to find some flaw in the report. That’s a sure indication that America has been brought low by a mass psychosis of rationalization. Living through this, one can begin to understand how the German people could embrace the actions taken by the Nazis prior to WW II. Obviously the scale is different, but maybe it isn’t, if you peg the comparison to, say Germany in 1937. Will we continue on this path? Or will a continued media focus on the actions of our institutions sufficiently disgust Americans that they say, “enough”? I’m not sure.

If Osama Bin Laden weren’t fish food, he’d likely be amazed and pleased with the effects of his and waterboarding-resistant 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed’s terrorist attack. Those two – with the help of the 19 hijackers, 80% of whom were Saudis, changed America from a beacon of opportunity and freedom to a virtual police state. The protests at Berkeley, New York City and Ferguson, Missouri, attest to that fact. It’s not too late to turn back. It all starts with one. Examine your conscience, and add your voice to the fray. Make change for the sake of real freedom: not the jingoistic phrases that led innocent boys to their deaths for some still-undefined reasons in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A lot still has to change, but I say it again: it all starts with one. If you truly believe in the principles for which American stands: one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for ALL, then join me in saying this: the CIA as an organization and an institution has to go.