This week we saw some surprising confessions.

The CIA admitted that President Bush personally ordered the creation of a network of secret foreign prisons and specifically authorized the use of torture on detainees overseas. While some Americans think such tactics are justified when extracting information from terrorists, Europeans have been very vocal in calling them war crimes. The President himself has been careful to avoid admitting to signing such orders, but has been very enthusiastic about defending them. Whether or not he originated the orders, noone in his administration tried to stop him from implementing them. How much persuasion is acceptable when trying to extract a confession? And if an innocent man dies during interrogation in a secret prison on foreign soil, is that an acceptable loss or a crime of war?

In a surprising move to discredit truth itself, an interview with OJ Simpson is due to air in which he explains how he would have killed his wife Nicole, had he killed her. Is this really necessary? He got away with murder, we get it. Why does he have to keep rubbing our faces in it? Is it some latent guilt that drives a man to confess to crimes in such a public way? Or is he just making money off the only thing he’s still famous for?

The truth can be ugly and unpleasant, but I’d rather know the facts than stay in the dark. They say history will judge these people. History starts with us.