On 11 March 2008, the US House of Representatives, by a vote of 225 to 188 (51 votes short of the two-thirds majority) failed to override President Bush's veto of a bill (H.R 2082) which would have prohibited the CIA from using waterboarding and other techniques of torture.
The full implications of this vote have not yet been discussed in most of the media. What this failure to act means is that it is now the official policy of the United States of America to use torture. No longer can we pretend that these disgusting and un-American actions are being used by isolated groups of soldiers, or "rogue agents," or any other comforting illusion. It is now the policy of our country as a whole to torture.
In a moment, a Congress that at best could be called cowardly and spineless has turned me into a citizen of a nation that uses and advocates crimes against humanity.
The Times article is:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/washington/12torture.html
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