I don’t think torture can be justified if it means maiming the body and doing permanent damage to it—cutting off fingers and toes, for instance.
But as many of us have been saying for a long time, strictly speaking waterboarding is not torture, because it does no real or permanent damage. It’s just extremely scary.
Nor is it forbidden to threaten to torture someone, with the intention of scaring him into talking.
If these jerks want to know what torture is, they should look at what the Muzzies do to us, not what we do to them.
Waterboarding is certainly justified if it is performed with the intention of saving lives. Which it was.
Tirure is effect. Want proof? Look at John McInsane McCain.
Torture and execution of prisoners is counterproductive. If the enemy you’re fighting knows he will be tortured or executed if taken prisoner, his resistance will stiffen and you can expect more casualties of your own. During the Battle of the Bulge, American prisoners were murdered by the SS. American resistance stiffened and the German offensive was defeated.