How strong are our beliefs?

Apparently not very.

In case you missed it, the Department of Justice today released several memos concerning our country's use of torture. If you can't read these memos and see that we abandoned our highest ideals, then you are crazy. Think for one minute whether or not the treatment "justified" in these memos would be acceptable for one of your loved ones. Before you go all, "But these are terrorists" on me, remember, the same people who are so convinced all these people are terrorists, are the same people who were convinced Iraq had WMDs and who haven't been able to capture Bin Laden in almost 8 years. And no, Islamic radicals would not extend us these same courtesies. That is exactly why we do extend them. They are the foundation of our very society. They are our moral justification. Without them, we are no better than any other barbaric regime.

Here's the President's statement on the memos:

The Department of Justice will today release certain memos issued by
the Office of Legal Counsel between 2002 and 2005 as part of an ongoing court
case. These memos speak to techniques that were used in the interrogation of
terrorism suspects during that period, and their release is required by the rule
of law.

My judgment on the content of these memos is a matter of record. In
one of my very first acts as President, I prohibited the use of these
interrogation techniques by the United States because they undermine our moral
authority and do not make us safer. Enlisting our values in the protection of
our people makes us stronger and more secure. A democracy as resilient as ours
must reject the false choice between our security and our ideals, and that is
why these methods of interrogation are already a thing of the past. But that is
not what compelled the release of these legal documents today.

Late Update: For anyone who wants to argue that the conduct authorized in these memos isn't really that bad, simply look here. These are the same practices that our government has condemned other countries for using. Simply because WE do it, does not make it right.