(This posting actually contains two articles, one by Carter who usually writes for World Socialist Web Site and the other by Ackerman who writes for The Guardian. I much prefer Carter's because it deals with much wider political implications, while Ackerman's writing for The Guardian is understandably much narrower.)
The long delayed "torture report" by the Senate Intelligence committee chaired by Feinstein was released today. To be clear, it is not the entire report of 6200 pages, but a 500 page heavily redacted summary of it. Although it was completed in December 2012, it was delayed obviously because of the threat it poses for the legitimacy of the ruling class government. While the rough details have leaked out long ago and are widely known about CIA torture, this is an official recognition that is likely to have even more of an impact on those who like to believe in fairy tale governments and believe everything they read or see in mainstream media. Of course, this is the main concern of our ruling masters. They still depend on the gullible to support their fake democracy; however if they lose this support, they will not hesitate to bring their well developed police state apparatus into operation--or at least, they will attempt to do so.
Enough of my comments--please read Carter's outstanding essay.