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People believe torture to be painful, unethical treatment. It is; and it is shameful that any being should inflict torture unto another. However, that's not the question being asked.

From a military standpoint, the use of torture in this case is to obtain information that is intentionally being withheld. In any urgent situation, where information is vital and not being given. Then measures must be taken to get that information. There are procedures and regulations that govern the use of interrogation techniques, with torture being near the bottom of the lists.

Therefore, in the face of clear and present threat, with lives or assets that affect lives at stake, torture is justifiable in order to interrogate an enemy who has malicious intent and chooses not to surrender information that benefits the common good.

Arguably, any information garnered forcefully is in itself suspect, due to human nature of response to unwilling obligation. But that's why any interrogator who fully appreciates their task and what it entails ensures survival, albeit minimally recognizable survival, until the information obtained can be verified.

Torture as an act in itself is profane and should not be tolerated. Use of torture in order to acquire something that determines the fate of large numbers of people or events, given no viable alternative, is allowable.(Still doesn't make it a good thing, but necessary nonetheless.)

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