It is this mutation of American Exceptionalism that we all deplore. Roger Cohen was rightly concerned about this:

The manifold blunders of America in Iraq have made it unfashionable to recall such truths. Fashion is a poor compass. The next time a car bomb goes off, remember Saddon al-Saiedi, a 36-year-old Shiite army colonel, father of two, abducted by Saddam's goons on May 2, 1993, and never seen again. As he went, so went numberless others, without a bang. Totalitarian hell - malign stability - holds no hope. Violent instability is unacceptable but not hopeless. Baghdad is closer to Sarajevo than we have allowed.

Where is Cohen's concern about this?

In the most comprehensive accounting to date, six leading human rights organizations today published the names and details of 39 people who are believed to have been held in secret US custody and whose current whereabouts remain unknown. The briefing paper also names relatives of suspects who were themselves detained in secret prisons, including children as young as seven.

Dick Cheney's Washington, DC is closer to Saddam's Baghdad than he has allowed. When will Cohen write about his concern about the behavior of the Bush Administration?