Well Said

A WaPo editorial on the McCain Amendment to the appropriations bill:

Let's be clear: Mr. Bush is proposing to use the first veto of his presidency on a defense bill needed to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan so that he can preserve the prerogative to subject detainees to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. In effect, he threatens to declare to the world his administration's moral bankruptcy.

If we don't stand for things like this, listening to the better angels of our nature, then really the argument with the islamofacists really is only about what flavor of religion we prefer. If democracy and freedom are worth having, they are worth not compromising our morals. It's been known for centuries that torture is very limited in it's ability to cajole useful information from a prisioner and these days we have better, less morally repugnant means of obtaining information.

I don't understand why the President is so stubborn on this, it seems to go against many of the tenents of his faith. Maybe it's a form of the Sunk Cost Fallacy, i.e. we've been doing this and to turn around now and say it was wrong makes the past look worse. Dunno.