Professor Joseph Reisert of Colby (“Blatantly partisan tenor ensures CIA report serves no good purpose,” Dec. 12) thinks Congress exhibits bad manners by disclosing information about how our government has abused prisoners. He calls Congress “demagogic … partisan … inflammatory.”

On the other hand, Reisert appears unbothered that the congressional report reveals that prisoners were abused to the point that one died and many more were permanently disabled. Reisert refers to these abuses as “what they call ‘torture.'”

In other words, it’s all right to abuse prisoners, but it’s positively rude to talk about it in polite society.

Frank O’Hara

Hallowell