Experiments were performed on detainees

From Nature:

Medical personnel on the payroll of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) participated in experimentation and research on detainees during interrogations following the US terror attacks of 11 September 2001 according to an independent report released today. The actions documented in the report took place during the administration of President George W. Bush and contravene principles of research ethics set out in the Nuremburg Code, including those explicitly stated by the US government.

The amazing thing is that Catholics *still* write me to complain, “How is that that you, a so-called ‘Catholic’, can continue to call yourself that and yet be so, so, so mean to people who support torture?”

Support war crimes: no problem.

Complain about support for war crimes: O the humanity! The hurt feelings!

In addition to the Long Lent of 2002, our American Catholic Church now bears the shame of self-described “faithful conservative Catholics” who will be remembered for their staunch defense (in percentages larger than the general population) of torture and war crimes.

Eventually, I believe, there will be repentance on this filth. The Spirit is powerful and cannot allow a canker like this to fester forever. But for now, the bulk of torture supporters are still in the thrall of the people who authorized this stuff and who impenitently declare “I’d do it again.” As long as these guys maintain this as a Core Value of the Thing that Used to Be Conservatism, Catholics who imagine that this will all somehow end in a prolife payoff will continue to go to bat for them. The result: prolifers will now find ways to make excuses, not just for torture, but for experimentation on prisoners that violates the Nuremburg Codes we ourselves drafted. In so doing, they will only help enemies of the unborn like Nancy Pelosi. And they will only corrupt their witness further.

Sin Makes you Stupid.