As if two hot wars and the onset of a second great depression weren't problems enough, the new President and his Attorney General must also, immediately, if not sooner, face the issue of torture.

President Obama has already sworn to henceforth ban the use of torture and punish its use by Americans.

It's both illegal and ineffective.

Sadly, the question facing the President and Attorney General Eric Holder, will all to soon be what to do about the approval and admitted use of torture by the Bush administration.

The law is clear.

"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment," according to just one of the treaties to which we are signatory.

We've charged and convicted of war crimes both Japanese and American soldiers who waterboarded prisoners.

Now, both former President Bush, and his Vice President, have publicly admitted, even bragged about, their role in approving the use of torture by US forces under their command, as well as knowingly dispatching captives to be tortured by third parties.

Neither the facts of torture, nor the International Criminal Courts, nor the men and women here and abroad with the duty and authority to seek out and punish those who break the law will disappear.

Nor, given the evidence and confessions at hand, will U.S law allow the President and the Department of Justice to ignore our use of torture.

Were Bush and Cheney men of honor, they'd simply admit what they did was illegal, offer up their reasons for breaking the law, and submit themselves to judgment and justice.

Better men, with more to lose, have done more.

And given the state of the nation, such expressions of moral courage (or contrition) might very well produce, if not merit, presidential expressions of compassion, or even pardon.