BILL MOYERS: For centuries now, philosophers, theologians and historians have reminded us that something fundamental changes in a society whose government adopts torture as official policy. So, how did the United States come to sanction the deliberate inflicting of cruelty on human beings as government policy? Congressional hearings this summer are trying to answer that question. They want to know who should be held accountable for trashing the rule of law in the name of national security?

REPRESENTATIVE JERROLD NADLER: Hooding, including removal of clothing; use of detainee individual phobias, such as fear of dogs to induce stress - are those humane treatments that we should apply?

DOUGLAS FEITH: I imagine one could apply these things in an inhumane fashion or one could apply them in a human fashion.

REPRESENTATIVE JERROLD NADLER: How could you force someone to be naked and -

DOUGLAS FEITH: It doesn't say naked.

REPRESENTATIVE JERROLD NADLER: And undertake 20-hour interrogations?

DOUGLAS FEITH: It doesn't say naked.

REPRESENTATIVE JERROLD NADLER: Removal of clothing. Removal of clothing doesn't mean naked?

DOUGLAS FEITH: Removal of clothing is different than naked.

JOHN ASHCROFT: I think one of the problems is to assume that there is a best way to interrogate. I mean, we're all different kinds of people. We all have different training. We all have a different kind of heritage. For this Congress to say this is the only way we're going to interrogate, we're going to have a warm and fuzzy approach to everybody, I think it would be to jeopardize the nation's security.

BILL MOYERS: We'll be reporting on those hearings on next week's JOURNAL. Some of you will recall that earlier this year I spoke with British legal scholar Philippe Sands, whose book, TORTURE TEAM, prompted Congress to ask him to testify this week, too.

PHILIPPE SANDS: If any of these techniques were used on an American serviceman or servicewoman, or American national in any circumstances, this country, quite rightly, would say, "These standards are not being met, they are being violated."

BILL MOYERS: When he was here on the JOURNAL, we asked Philippe Sands to contribute to our project on the American Dream. We've been asking all of our guests to share with us their hope for America's future. You can see their answers on our site at PBS.org. Here's what Sands had to say.

PHILIPPE SANDS: I sincerely hope that the United States reconnects to the values that it promoted domestically and internationally that ran in the 40s and the 50s and afterwards - a value which is based on equality and on justice and in particular on the rule of law both domestically and internationally. That has been violated in the last eight years and what America needs to do more than anything is reconnect with that system of values. Because if America doesn't show that type of leadership, no one else is going to fill that slot.

BILL MOYERS: I invite you to share your own ideas about the American dream - send us yours and down the road I'll be offering mine in return. Log on to our blog at PBS.org, or send us a video we can post.

I'm Bill Moyers, and I'll see you next week.