The Characteristics of the Prophesied Image to the Beast are Clearly in Focus in The Torture Report

The ACLU's Torture Report aims to give a full account of the Bush administration's torture program, from its improvised origins to the systematized, lawyer-rationalized maltreatment of hundreds of prisoners in U.S. custody around the world.

"We are finally beginning to learn the full scope of the Bush administration's torture program. Government documents show that hundreds of prisoners were tortured in the custody of the CIA and Department of Defense, some of them killed in the course of interrogations. Justice Department memos show that the torture policies were devised and developed at the highest levels of the Bush administration."   Source

The Torture Report

Also, see the heart sickening article, Torture by U.S. was Widespread.  These traits and characteristics will once day soon be brought to bear against the followers of Christ.  As the article points out, "As for not taking action against the countless Pentagon operatives who tortured---including doctors and dentists and surgeons, etc.---Obama’s inaction will permit these sadists to be returned one day to practice among the general civilian population. Think about that."

"The Christian exiles who first fled to America, sought an asylum from royal oppression and priestly intolerance, and they determined to establish a government upon the broad foundation of civil and religious liberty. These principles are the secret of our power and prosperity as a nation. Millions from other lands have sought our shores, and the United States has risen to a place among the most powerful nations of the earth.

"But the stern tracings of the prophetic pencil reveal a change in this peaceful scene. The beast with lamb-like horns speaks with the voice of a dragon, and "exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him. The spirit of persecution manifested by paganism and the papacy is again to be revealed. Prophecy declares that this power will say 'to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast.' [REV. 13:14.] 

"By this first beast is represented the Roman Church, an ecclesiastical body clothed with civil power, having authority to punish all dissenters. The image to the beast represents another religious body clothed with similar power. The formation of this image is the work of that beast whose peaceful rise and mild professions render it so striking a symbol of the United States. Here is to be found an image of the papacy. When the churches of our land, uniting upon such points of faith as are held by them in common, shall influence the State to enforce their decrees and sustain their institutions, then will Protestant America have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy. Then the true church will be assailed by persecution, as were God's ancient people... Persecution always follows religious favoritism on the part of secular governments."  4SP 277-279.

The characteristics of the first beast of Revelation 13, are now being manifested also by the image to the beast as it forms and matures, and will result in the persecutions of past ages being visited, to the extent that God permits, upon commandment keepers in the near future.  "But the coming triumph for the men who love and fear God is as sure as that His throne is established in the heavens."  BEcho, August 26, 1895.