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Dick Cheney thinks that anal rape is acceptable behaviour for civilised countries. We already knew he’s a dick; now we know he’s a complete and utter wanker.

We’ve learnt recently that the United States, in the form of the CIA, has tortured men it has captured and held prisoner, as part of an “enhanced interrogation” regime. The United States, therefore, can no longer claim to be a civilised country. It can no longer sit at the grownups’ table among proper countries, countries that understand that some things are simply wrong.

What a Dick.

America has long claimed to be uniquely righteous among the nations of the world, to be uniquely honorable. And Americans are brought up, almost from birth, to believe that their country is exceptional, that it is the greatest nation on earth, that it is special, a nation apart. America, they’re taught, is the great beacon of freedom and liberty in the world. This is, of course, bollocks. But American exceptionalism is a firmly-held belief, a conviction that America is, almost by definition, right.

But America has been revealed — by its own government — to be anything but. The CIA tortured its captives — physically, psychologically, sexually — on an ongoing basis, with the full knowledge of the president and vice-president, for years. For this George W. Bush and Dick Cheney should be deeply ashamed, as should every single American who voted for them in 2000 — and then voted for them again in 2004, when these men were already revealing themselves to have the morals of pondslime.

Torture is wrong. It’s always wrong. Don’t believe me? Here’s what the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights has to say: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. That’s pretty unequivocal, isn’t it? It doesn’t even work, which simply rubs salt in the wounds, but even if it did work, it’s still wrong. Ends do not, despite what Cheney, the utter tosser, might claim, but even if they did, the CIA have, at the direction of Total Dick Cheney, been torturing under the most circular logic. The men the CIA tortured were guilty of terrorist acts; therefore, anything America does to them is justified. No trial is necessary; the enormity of the acts they’ve been accused of are sufficient to justify anything their torturers can throw at them — or shove up their arses. Complete And Absolute Dick Cheney would deny them anything resembling due process; he, an American citizen, would, I’m guessing, be appalled to be convicted on the same basis, but, really, why shouldn’t he? By his own admission, he was part of these atrocities; if the magnitude of the offence is inversely proportional to the need for a trial, as his own logic would imply, then he needn’t bother calling his lawyer.

Cheney plays, of course, the 9/11 card in his defence of the disgusting behaviour he endorses. America has done this for far too long. Through September 2001, the entire world was on the side of America — the attacks of that day were so utterly awful that America had the sympathy, the goodwill, of even the French. But by the end of the year, that goodwill was largely squandered by George W and Dick. America, so long a supporter of terrorism, had finally discovered what terrorism on its own soil felt like, and now considered itself empowered to act without limit, without question, without let or hindrance, to visit its revenge as it saw fit. And if anyone dared challenge America’s right to act, then America simply pointed to the southern tip of Manhattan, simply invoked 9/11 — as though that made everything all right. And Cheney continues to invoke tragedy to justify atrocity.

But he’s wrong. America has become a secular, nation-state version of ISIS. It has chosen a standard — ISIS has Islam; America has liberty — and defined, refined, distorted that standard to suit its own prejudices. It has then decided that this standard is a universal value, one that it is uniquely entitled to impose across the globe because…well, because we’ve bloody well decided it’s right, so who are you to argue? And since America is, as America has established, always and unequivocally on the side of right, anything is justified in the course of imposing that value.

America has long defined itself as the land of liberty, of freedom, of all that is right and good. But America is now just one more country that violates international law, that disregards international treaties that it has signed, that ignores fundamental standards of decent behaviour. America has long held up its Constitution as a model of government; indeed, the eighth amendment to the constitution prohibits “cruel and usual punishment.” It’s worrying, then, that a vice-president has considered the CIA to be above the law, but more worrying is that a Supreme Court Justice has also decided that there’s nothing in the Constitution to outlaw torture. The fact that Antonin Scalia, after making such an inane declaration, is still a Supreme Court justice is deeply concerning. He should step down immediately; if he doesn’t, he should be removed. But neither will happen.

Cheney, Bush, and everyone else who authorised, ordered and carried out this appalling behaviour should be brought to trial. This is the only way America can demonstrate to the world that it understands how badly it has screwed up, and how urgently and desperately it needs to put its house in order. But the reality is that it won’t. Its people won’t demand it, and its politicians won’t push the matter too hard. The handwringing has begun, but that, so far, is all that’s happened, and there’s little indication that anything more will be done. The people of America, of course, won’t vote out the people who are failing to act on the matter, just as they didn’t vote out the people who were committing these crimes through the last decade, and that, then, makes them complicit in the acts that were done in their name.

The reality of America, sadly, is that it is no longer the shining city on a hill. It is just another failed state.