Torture: A Christian Perspective

I recently read the Wil Wheaton's http://wilwheaton.net/ blog on torture. He quips that torture is not an American value and therefore he is opposing the confirmation of alberto Gonzales as the new Attorney General.

I've been thinking about a Christian perspective on torture. Is all torture wrong? Is there an acceptable level of torture in war? To be honest, I'm not sure but I need to chew on this some more.

On the surface, and without any serious thought, I would agree with Wil. But I think the issue is a lot more complex ethically. It's easy enough to just brush the issue aside as wrong (in every case) but again, I'm not sure that is the case. Wil writes

While it is vital that we defeat our enemies, we must not become them in
the process. As a nation, we must stand united against Albert Gonzales and
everything he represents. Torture is not an American value.

Again, I think this view sounds good, but in principle I think it's simplistic. I have to ponder this for a while.