America's Torture Machine: One reason for US DECLINE in the eyes of the world.

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/americas-torture-machine-no-aberration-its-part-our-imperial-decline?akid=12576.294211.OZpAIy&rd=1&src=newsletter1028681&t=8

America's Torture Machine Is No Aberration—It's Part of Our Imperial Decline

Can we quit pretending torture is some huge departure from America's behavior?

If 9/11 was a test of America’s national character, we failed it. As distant as this possibility seems now, Americans of all creeds, colors and political affiliations felt united for a few weeks after the collapse of the Twin Towers. Yes, that soon gave way to jingoism, to strip-mall attacks on presumed Muslims and to the invasion of Afghanistan, which even a cursory, Cliffs Notes history of the Near East will tell you is the place where empires go to die.