Pro-torture and not decent enough to be ashamed

One clear revelation of the Bushist embrace of torture to further military and foreign policy is that a substantial number of Americans are openly pro-torture (be sure to read at least the first fifteen comments). When I was growing up playing WWII in the back yard twenty years after the world nearly burned down, it was unthinkable that Americans would ever become the torturers.

Now, there's a vocal segment of the conservative movement for whom the us-against-them values of tribalism far outweigh the dispassionate rule of law upon which our nation was founded. Their fear, a central characteristic of their worldview, drives them. Why they are not more stalwart in the face of danger - when that is one of the few national virtues they and I cherish in common - is a puzzle to me.