http://www.slate.com/id/2150541/

But in hindsight, Abu Ghraib wasn't a scandal for the Bush
administration. It was a coup. Because when the Senate passes the president's
detainee bill today, we will, as a country, have yet more evidence that
yesterday's disgrace is today's ordinary, and that—with a little time and a
little help from the media—we can normalize almost anything in the span of a few
short years. Lord Byron once wrote that "There are some feelings time cannot
benumb/ Nor torture shake." He was, evidently, wrong as to both counts.