When I read this paragraph, any remaining benefit of the doubt I had regarding the character of the current administration was dispelled:
So is "enhanced interrogation" torture? One way to answer this question is to examine history. The phrase has a lineage. Verscharfte Vernehmung, enhanced or intensified interrogation, was the exact term innovated by the Gestapo to describe what became known as the "third degree". It left no marks. It included hypothermia, stress positions and long-time sleep deprivation.See the whole oped pice, here.