It’s time for a full-throated, unapologetic and forceful tirade by Sen. Olympia Snowe.

We know it’s generally not her style to declare open warfare. But Snowe speaks for Maine in the United States Senate, and we are not satisfied with the conduct of the Intelligence Committee.

Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts of Kansas has rejected a call by his colleague, John Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, to open a broad inquiry into allegations of detainee abuse by the CIA and the rendition policies that allow prisoners to be delivered to countries that the State Department knows use torture.

As it stands, the question of investigating the use of extreme measures, extralegal renditions to other countries and the CIA’s covert detention system has turned into a partisan issue. Many Republicans seem content to cover for the Bush administration and allow it to use its apparently flawed judgment about the treatment of people accused of being terrorists. Democrats have used the issue of torture to vilify the president, but haven’t been able to generate the public outcry the issue deserves.

Snowe, a moderate Republican, could help break the impasse.

The allegations of torture at the hands of U.S. authorities are significant. The photos from Abu Ghraib, which shocked and outraged the entire world, are just the most public manifestations of what we suspect are systematic abuses, set into motion by policy from the White House.

There’s been no accounting of how many prisoners have been handed over to foreign governments to be held and interrogated. There’s been no accounting of the number of ghost detainees held in secret facilities by the CIA, only estimates that hundreds of people – without trial or ability to contest their arrest – have been disappeared under the orders of the United States.

We know that Snowe is a woman of conscience. Because she is a Republican, a moderate and a member of the Intelligence Committee, perhaps she could create the momentum for a real investigation on this critical question of oversight.

Things can’t be allowed to stand as they are. There are too many questions, too many examples of abusive tactics and policies, and too much at stake. Nothing less than the reputation and moral standing of the United States government are at risk. The country needs answers.