On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate issued its torture report detailing prisoner abuse by the military and the C.I.A. in the Afghanistan and Iraq operations.
An ironic coincidence and a fitting coda on a sorry chapter in American history. We're finally pulling out of a place we never should have entered in the first place, and we're also acknowledging (at least most of us are, with certain grumpy GOP exceptions) that we did horrible, sadistic and fundamentally useless things while we were there. We were all about lies and stupidity.
No charges will be filed. The Justice Dept. will not prosecute anyone as a result of the Senate report, but I heard an acceptable alternative proposed last night: Let's officially pardon George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Porter Goss, Gen. Michael Hayden, et al.
Let them complain and get all defensive about legality and good intentions and the fog of war. An official pardon would imply the exact opposite: It was illegal and wrong and you knew it and you did it anyway and you are ultimately responsible -- but, as a matter of record, your crimes are officially pardoned.
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