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Other than pretty much agreeing with most of what roachboy has laid out of late, I want to say that the use of torture is an indication of a problematic moral failure. Within the context of war, it obliterates any possibility of "just" warfare.
Once you cross the line of bypassing human dignity, you have bypassed all hope for fighting for the greater good. If you cannot uphold your own values, it becomes unclear as to what exactly you're fighting for.
If America is okay with torture, it can be little better than many of the brutal dictatorships we've seen come and go. What else will we see as a means to an end?
I don't understand your Constitution to the letter, but I'd be rather surprised to learn that this kind of behaviour doesn't go against such an important document. That it does is indicative of a serious omission on the part of the framers and those involved in the amendments.
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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