That’s the takeaway fro Judge Rake-off’s lengthy and thoughtful review of “A War Like No Other: The Constitution in a Time of Terror” by Yale law professor Owen Fiss. As Judge Rakoff says in analyzing the very steep and slippery slope that led us to water-boarding, amongst other atrocities of the new millennium:

“The war on terror, for all its uncertainties, is in some respects a war of values: the monstrous methods of al-Qaeda, ISIS, and others are but a reflection of their authoritarian values and extremist ideologies. They hate us, not just because we are rich, but because we are, on the whole, free, liberal in thought, and humane in feelings. It would be ironic, and tragic, if in seeking to safeguard our security so as to preserve our values, we undercut, for now and for the future, the very values that make us so proud to be Americans.”