Maybe this will become a Great Debate and be worthy of moving into that forum. But until we see how it develops (if it does), lets start it here.
elucidator, Der Trihs, you have both argued against the war in general, and specifically against torture in this thread.
Evil One, you and others have argued in favor of the war, and seem to believe torture is warranted in certain circumstances. Maybe a more fair characterization is that you are withholding judgement of the merits of the war until we can see it to its conclusion.
As many of you know, I am a recovering conservative. I supported the war, to my shame, in its beginning. Now I consider it an evil, stupid decision. But it wasn’t so long ago that I was making many of the arguments presented by Evil One. These days I tend to agree more with elucidator and Der Trihs (so long as it doesn’t involve religion 
) However from my perspective of transitioning between the two, I can see how each reaches its conclusion and I understand how both sides can approach the same issue and come to such disparate positions.
But here is my question. Can you do the same? Can you argue against the positions you have supported in the above-mentioned thread? As an intellectual excercise, can you support the opposing opinion?
So my challenge, if you should accept it, is for you to debate the use of waterboarding. Imagine the following scenario: A young black muslim from Chicago has been under surveillance. He works loading packages onto FedEx planes. He is caught one sunday morning trying to bring unscreened packages onto a plane. The package is found to contain a gun, explosives and a paper with coordinates. The Department of Homeland Security descends.
The coordinates are found to pinpoint Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinatti. The agents look at their watches and realize the stadium will be filling with people in anticipation of the 1pm kickoff.
Under aggressive questioning it becomes apparent that this young American is working with foreign nationals to commit an act of terror. Yes, he admits he was to hide in the cargo area until the plane was airborn then kill the pilot and fly the plane into the packed stadium. Yes, he admits there are others. Probably already in the air. Then he shuts up.
elucidator, Der Trihs, you are to support the use of waterboarding to get the details to pry the information from our suspect in order to save numerous lives.
Evil One, you are to oppose all uses of torture in all circumstance, including deterring an imminent terrorist act.
Ground Rules for Others Who May Want to Play
-You must support the opinion opposite of your actual position. Consider it a Bizarro debate.
-The point of this excercise is not how to handle the events unfolding, but rather to support or oppose the threat of torture. Stop all FedEx flights? Great idea. Empty all football stadiums? Sure. But that is not the point.
-All statements in this thread are understood to NOT represent the true opinions of the poster. At no point should someone cite this thread or anything in it, as indicative of the posters position.