I think that throughout history, men in war have embraced and santioned torture in its many forms. That is what war is in essence--torture. So to act all shocked like we are so above it all (professional was your word I think) is bemusing to me.
Arch, again, shit happens in war, but that is vastly different than adopting torture as an official policy of our nation. We are a signatory to an international convention specifically outlawing its use. That we as nation have formally established policy, infrastructure, and resources explicitly for the purpose of torture has bankrupted whatever integrity we had in the eyes of most the world. Except for scale, after our performance of the past four years we are now indistinquishable from Stalin's Russia relative to the use of gulags, torture, and murder.
It is a bold stain on the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights - and our nation. OBL succeeded beyond his wildest dreams in this respect; he simply got us to tear at the very foundation of this country for him.
the only purpose of torture is the act itself. men of war go to to extremes to get a good excuse to do it and sell it to horrified bystanders as necessary.