According to this article
http://rainmaker.newsvine.mobi/_news/2009/04/27/2735631-judiciary-committee-member-follow-torture-trail-to-cheney-if-necessary House Judiciary Committee member Jerry Nadler said:
"There can't be a compromise -- you have to follow the law. If the facts say that some former high-ranking official should be prosecuted, the fact people will get angry should be irrelevant. (...) If we do not investigate the torture that is clear that it occured, and if the evidence is there prosecute, not only are we disobeying the law, not only are we being immoral, but we are inviting torture of our people in the future."
Worse than that, I'd say. There is even more at stake than this. You risk a future in which the American Way is defined by "the right to torture, rendition and pursuit of terrorism".
Since it's the right wing that has become so zealous in their defense of torture they are not only defining their party by the support for torture, but trying to define American identity by support for torture example:
http://wharrison55.newsvine.com/_news/2009/04/26/2734426-obamas-morals-dont-trump-our-safety
In other words they are saying:
"We are the party that tortures. If any of us were in a position in which we were called upon to torture someone - anyone - we would do it. If you were a suspect of terrorism, I would gladly torture you. We also consider anyone willing to do less than that a breach in the US defense system."
By pulling the 9/11 and the "ticking bomb scenario" torture apologists effectively draw a picture in which "the safety of America" is unthinkable without torture. USA rests on the pillars of torture. Torture, it has been argued, has been applied by American forces in several conflicts from Second World War to Vietnam, and now in Afghanistan and Iraq.
I read an interesting piece on this called :
The Uncertainty Principle of Torture
"To be very technical about it: For someone to torture another to gain crucial information there has to be a level of ignorance proportional to the the importance of the information, an information gap we could refer to as "The Uncertainty Gap".
Since you do not hold the desired information, you can only assume that the victim does. This means there is, in the best case, an abstract 50/50 percent chance you are torturing for no good reason.
In the worst case, which due to human nature and the particularly paranoid setting is the more likely, the success ratio of torture will quickly grow infinitely small. The more fearful you are, the more "ticking bomb scenarios" you will find, and the more people you will torture on less and less suspicious activity.
The less we know, the more we torture. The more actual intelligence you have, the less you need to torture. And, reversely, the frequency and intensity of the use of torture reveals the level of desperation when comes to obtaining intelligence.
In other words, the uncertainty gap tends to explode. It is highly volatile matter. "
You guys heard of Vine Deloria Jr., the Native American attorney and activist? He used to say, Native Americans laugh themselves sick when they hear people talk of our respect for the rule of law.