Torture ALWAYS works
Thousands of years of human history prove it. Untold millions over the centuries, all "confessed" and died. Some before the "confession", the others after. Heretics, witches, and anyone unlucky enough to fall into the hands of someone who was willing to use torture to get the info they wanted.
Torture ALWAYS works. People ALWAYS "confess".
Now, whether the information obtained is factual, or of any use is another question entirely. Inquisitors of the middle ages knew that the heretics and witches might be false, but even a false confession suited their purposes more than well enough.
So, it all comes down to definitions. Definitions of what is or is not torture, and what is or is not the moral high ground, among others. Sure, there is the completely understandable urge to use 'any means necessary" against the terrorists (scum?!!), but it is , and must be balanced against our public image and legal requirements as the self proclaimed "good guys".
As I see it, there are two basic kinds of torture, physical and mental. Physical torture is the old fashioned kind, easily recognised by the direct application of pain, and ususally results in permant damage and eventual death. The rack, beatings, burnings, rapes, and all the other traditional methods are commomly recognised. And prohibited to US soldiers by our laws and regulations as well as international treaties and accords. These rules however, legally apply to enemy soldiers, that is enemies in uniform. Spies, sabateurs, partisans, terrorists, call them what you will, non-uniformed combatants have traditionally NEVER been protected by international conventions, and have always been tortured and/or shot when caught.
Mental torture is perhaps not quite as old, but it has a long history as well. The famous Chinese water torture is just one example.
People argue both sides, some claiming that only physical torture is torture, and others including the various mental tortures that leave no visible harm. To them, it is all torture. And as the "good guys", the use of any torture by us is abhorrent to them. Good guys don't torture people. That is their philosphy. And so the argument about waterboarding. Torture or a valid interrogation technique? Probably both or neither, depending on your point of view.
When it comes to the "enemy combatants", terrorists, islamofascists, wht ever you call them, we are on very clear legal ground, but very murky moral ground. Since we are at "war" with terrorism (and to this day I can hardly believe that the Congress actually gave the administration what amounts to a blank check), and since the enemy is not the uniformed forces of any nation state, they are not protected by the international accords. Nor are the US citizens, and so our Constitutional rights do not strictly apply to them either. So, we could legally do anything we want with and to them. However, there are moral issues involved, as well as some potential legal ones, dependant on clarification by our legal system. Our moral issue is, of course, that we are the good guys, and we don't do the things that the bad guys do. And then there is the legal argument that even though the detainees are not US citizens, that they do have certain protected rights under our Constitution, since they are in US custody.
So, here we are, endlessly arguing about what we can do to these people (and still retain the moral high ground) and what we should do to these people to get what we need from them (valid information on their actions, organizations and personnel). What I don't understand is what prevents us (legally or otherwise) from using drugs and/or hypnosis? Given what we know and can do, I have a hard time understanding how drugs/hypnosis could be any less effective in obtaining information than "torture". While there is no "truth serum" as such, there are plenty of drugs out there that make you more than happy to talk about nearly everything, and I would think that any decent interrogater would be able to get much useful information, and do so with out all this argument about waterboarding, or anything else that could be described to be torture. Why don't we do this? Is there some legal reason (law? treaty?)
Of course, we could just keep them in a plywood box (just large enough not to be "torture", feed them nothing but cornflakes and water, and play an endless loop of Donnie & Marie singing "Puppy Love".
They would probably beg be waterboarded.