The adults are talking

Can we pretend to be adults for a second? On a blog site, I frequent http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/; we have had several discussions about the recent torture memos. Sufficient time has passed that passions might have had time to quell themselves. So I would like to ask the question: Who is more of a child, the person who thinks that what the CIA does at Gitmo is torture or the person who believes that Al Queda actually tortures?
It seems the CIA interrogators have used certain practices they refer to as "enhanced techniques." These include: walling, dietary manipulation, open-handed slaps, flicking, sleep deprivation, etc. You can read the memos for yourself here for example. Suffice to say that doctors were required to be present to ensure “frequent medial monitoring takes place while any detainee is undergoing” the procedures.
The Al Qaeda organization however, uses different methods. I will not elaborate much but I do not think they were medically supervised in quite the same manner. You can read here for more.
I was called childish for pointing out the threat of placing a caterpillar in close proximity to a man who was afraid of insects. I was told it was torture.
I will say that waterboarding looks pretty unpleasant. I don’t really want it done to me. In fact, I don’t want any of the techniques described in either handbook to be used on me. I don’t think most of them are torture. In fact, I encountered most of the CIA techniques while on the average camping trip in the Boy Scouts.
Waterboarding seems to be the harshest procedure utilized. It was used on three people. It is interesting to note that in the videos I have seen, the recovery time is quick and there are no lasting scars or wounds.
I am willing to entertain that waterboarding, the harshest method utilized, might cross the line, if those on the other side can acknowledge that the other procedures are not torture. I think it is time for the grown-ups to have an adult discussion of whether these procedures should be used. I just think that it is important to distinguish what is torture and what is not. Some things are easy. Some not so much. Staying up too late: not torture. Electric drill through the hand: torture. Agreed?
If we cannot agree on that, how will we ever have an adult discussion of anything?