Is torture ethical?

"The Atlantic" magazine asks this question. The article begins:
'Is torture ethical? Should the United States torture prisoners in its custody? A generation ago, an ambitious politician would have known how to answer those questions. Recall that Ronald Reagan urged the Senate to "demonstrate unequivocally our desire to bring an end to the abhorrent practice of torture," which he called "an abhorrent practice unfortunately still prevalent in the world today." In time, senators complied by committing the United States to either "prosecute torturers who are found in its territory or to extradite them to other countries."
'Today the abhorrence of torture is much diminished.'
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