Many years ago I read an article by an Iranian gentleman that basically highlighted that torture doesn't get the answers required, it harms both the sufferer and the person inflicting pain on a deep level. This also brings to mind the prevalence of torture in the early series of "24"... a problem later addressed by the producers when they actively avoided depiction of torture. In the early Obama presidency there was a lot of (over due) contrition over the use of enhanced interrogation at Guantanamo bay. Arguements for the use of torture were often given in the context of a "ticking time bomb" or equivalent scenario that needed to be stopped in a given time limit, despite such incidents not having a real life precedent.