I wonder what the apologists will say, there certainly is no lack of imagination when it comes to defending torture and murder when done by the government.
They'll cower like they almost always cower, shrinking from a confrontation they're deathly afraid of: the one in which they're ultimately responsible for ensuring their own liberty, with the requirement being they have to stand-up to a vast and powerful authority. I'm not speaking of modern Americans, but of all people at nearly all points of history, whether Soviet Russia or modern Chicago.