Panetta On Torture

From an article he wrote for the Washington Monthly early in 2008.

Those who support torture may believe that we can abuse captives in certain select circumstances and still be true to our values. But that is a false compromise. We either believe in the dignity of the individual, the rule of law, and the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, or we don't. There is no middle ground.

We cannot and we must not use torture under any circumstances. We are better than that.

We still need to see how he answers specific questions now that he'll have actual responsibility over gathering intelligence. Skepticism should be maintain, always, and in the end, nothing really counts more than action -- we've seen a lot of honorable talk in the past. But still, I think things are looking up.