I'm inclined to believe that this was explicitly allowed to happen by those in power, and most of the 'shock' and perhaps even the 'well, look at stuff like the

I'm inclined to believe that this was explicitly allowed to happen by those in power, and most of the 'shock' and perhaps even the 'well, look at stuff like the SFE to see how people can go wrong' is really just covering up for the ugly truth of torture that quite a few people in positions of power are really quite okay with. I mean, considering the history of the US government, or the behavior of its various three-letter agencies, does it make any sense to give them the benefit of the doubt?