torture is never justifiable.

the idea that it is even useful is total bullshit. the 'evidence' obtained pre the Iraq war through torture proved to be false, which is pretty normal.

If you had ever dealt with victims of torture and trauma, or heard them interviewed, you would be aware that peoples responses to torture fall into several categories:

1. you tell your torturer what you think they want to hear to make the torture stop. this is usually not reliable information. often it is a response to hints the torturers have been dropping about what they want - including names of people they would like to see implicated.

2. you tell your torturer nothing, because your 'cause' or your 'faith' gives you strength. Sometimes it is your hatred of the torturer, and your will not to be defeated increases your capacity to endure.

3. you tell your torturer nothing because you do not want others to suffer.

sometimes its a combination of all three.

If you want to get information out of someone, the best way is to threaten harm to their loved ones - especially their children, although again I would suggest the information gained - if responding to hints - will also be unreliable.

torturing the individual has no benefit for acquiring useable information ... although it is great for netting a lot of additional innocents, as the witchhunts of Europe and the activities of the KGB in Stalinist Russia - as two examples - have shown.

Torture is something sick twisted individuals get excited about - and it can also cause psychological damage to the perpetrator.

decent people - unless they are brainwashed - would give it a wide berth.