This Vanity Fair story should be required reading for all.  Note that for all its objective sterility, one thing shows through - that torture not only goes against the grain of America - it doesn't work.  And if that leaves the only explanation for it the sadistic fascination of  some real dumasses - then you are correct.

Al-Qaeda lieutenant Abu Zubaydah. The New York Times/Redux.

Abu Zubaydah was a mess. It was early April 2002, and the al-Qaeda lieutenant had been shot in the groin during a firefight in Pakistan, then captured by the Special Forces and flown to a safe house in Thailand. Now he was experiencing life as America's first high-value detainee in the wake of 9/11. A medical team and a cluster of F.B.I. and C.I.A. agents stood vigil, all fearing that the next attack on America could happen at any moment. It didn't matter that Zubaydah was unable to eat, drink, sit up, or control his bowels. They wanted him to talk.