As I indicated previously, I like Dick Cheney, a lot. Saw him speak at a Republican lunch. But I don’t agree with him on this. In the realm of relativity, yeah, sure, you would “take” waterboarding over having your fingers ripped off with pliers, knees drilled, chunks of flesh cut off or being burned, but the line is drawn before you inflict physical touch to get information.
I used to teach Geneva-Hague conventions to huge groups of soldiers as part of a legal requirement—the reality being that if soldiers are aware of their rights they will be more able to assert them. While Geneva-Hague doesn’t protect non-combatants, it sets a baseline Americans operate from.
If they are non-combatants and not entitled to protections, I am less concerned about them and more concerned about the effect torture has on the torturer and what it indicates about Americans.