The Republican talking point seems to be that these "techniques", make that torture was justified because it worked.  Under this theory why not bring in a prisoner’s wife or children and torture or murder them in front of him?  That would probably "work" too.  Does that mean it’s justified?  I guess so in Republican double speak.

Next, the F.B.I. are the heroes of this story.  Yes, you heard me right.  Hoover’s F.B.I.  Many agents are lawyers.  They know the laws against torture, both American and international.  Apparently many of them walked out of these interrogations and refused to participate.  The F.B.I. director brought these abuses to the attention of the Attorney General Gonzales.  Guess what he did about it?  Goose egg.  He then instructed his agents to having nothing to do with C.I.A. or military interrogations.

Finally, here is a lovely counter argument to the — "we were under attack, anything was acceptable" argument by Andrew Sullivan