Via Steve Clemons, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee wrote:

I and many others believe that the use of torture and indefinite detention have not only tarnished our honor but also diminished our security. In this global counterinsurgency effort against al Qaeda and its allies, too often our means have undercut our efforts by wasting one of our best weapons: the legitimacy that comes from our moral authority.

. . . Torture elicits lies -- not just from those experiencing it, but from those who seek to conceal it. After years of Orwellian denials and legalistic parsing, what a relief it was to hear our new attorney general-designee finally acknowledge what we know to be true: that yes, "waterboarding is torture."

As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Kerry seems well positioned to investigate and document these hard truths. It should be part of his work now.

Speaking for me only