Naomi Klein writes a powerful article on the issue of torture and America's history of it. She contrasts America's disgust and shame of the current Iraq, Guantanamo and secret prison torture scandals with the fact that America has been conducting and "teaching" torture ever since Vietnam. Of course most American civilians won't be aware of their country's role in training Latin American officers in vicious counterinsurgency programs like forceful interrogation or the Phoenix program which resulted in thousands of deaths of suspected Vietcong members under custody, but it is much worse when members of government like Senators or Congressmen profess ignorance of this.

See here for Our Amnesiac Torture Debate