“We were only following orders.” Right. So were Nazi prison camp guards. The Nuremberg Trials, which the US pushed hard for, settled this long ago. The excuse of “following orders” cannot be used to justify illegal actions and war crimes. Period. Nice try though. Thus, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, everyone in the line of command, and those who tortured the prisoners are war criminals. It’s way past time for the United States to get honest about what it has become.
“Bad people may retaliate against us.” Well yes, they might. However, attempting to cover up criminality by saying divulging it might incite violence can be used to excuse most any reprehensible action, like chaining prisoners and letting them freeze to death.. Oh wait, that’s exactly what is happening. Bad scary groups who we have tortured and killed with drone are pissed at us. Who could ever have possibly predicted such a thing could happen. And it’s not like these torture revelations are a surprise to anyone, including AQ.