For Laura:
[UPDATED]
My thoughts on torture? If it is a last ditch effort to save hundreds or hundreds of thousands of people then it is easy to say that the one must be sacrificed for the many. Not nice but maybe necessary. That said, I think it is one of the many areas where most people (wrongly?) hold a double standard. That is to say, it is okay for me/my country but not you/your country. I think it can be (wrongly?) justified by grand generalized statements like "Oh, but our country places a higher value on human life so it is more rare, less brutal, etc, etc, etc." Personally, I think it can seem less abhorrent when we imagine that those making the decisions are guided by the same principles we ourselves are. And I think that easily deludes many into believing it is right or at least "not so bad." (Which leads me to ponder the gravity and horror of being that person forced to make the decision.) Whichever side of the fence a Christian places themselves, I think they need to be honest with themselves about the fact that the people making these decisions (in our country or other countries) are fallen human beings whether they are judging with the same principles as ourselves or not. And as fallen human beings, an American is just as likely as any other person to be mistaken, cruel and unjust.

UPDATE:
Okay, I just went back and read your post after writing this and I realized that as I ruminated on your questions I sort of forgot them. Either that or 9 months in the Southern Baptist Church was enough to corrupt me into equating "what does the gospel say?" with "how do you feel about this?" Forgive me, this post will not be my personal diatribe against the SBC. Whew! Back on topic. One of the churches we visited for a while was looking at issues like this and how the gospel speaks to them. We heard something like "The teachings of Jesus are heavy on loving your neighbor and turning the other cheek. Therefore war, torture, etc. are wrong." End of story. We were frustrated that it wasn't more fully explored. And maybe we should fully explore it ourselves. (If we were not so lazy.) I came away realizing that I apply the teachings of Jesus more personally without imposing that "higher calling" on my government. And I don't know if that is right or not. Did Jesus give instructions to governments? (That is not rhetorical.) All I can recall is telling us to obey our government officials. Where do we find in the Bible what we should expect / promote in our government? (Again, I am really asking that.) In a general sense, my memory of the way government works in the Bible is as an organizing agent for good and for justice. What is justice? How can sinful men even begin to exercise justice? (sorry, minor bunny trail) So. I guess I am not getting anywhere. I see where Christ calls us to love and mercy . . . personally. But I don't know how we apply that on a government level. I mean, the government is not a charitable institution, nor is it meant to be. It exists to promote order, right? So I dunno, Laura. Just a lot of thoughts going nowhere. I feel like I've blathered around wasting time and space. Sorry all. Feel free to cut my membership to this club. ;~p