It’s worth noting that while we release memos and shine a spotlight on the worst that we’ve done, we had a prolonged debate about whether or not it was something akin to torture to show Daniel Pearl’s beheading and other actual instances of brutality on television.

The American Enterprise Institute, by the way, was helpful in not hiding the actual evil of our enemy when they posted video on their website of Saddam Hussein-era torture at Abu Ghraib. That we are outraged at what our people did at Abu Ghraib is right. But that’s never been a reason to lose sight of the big picture.