(...)  Even more challenging was that these detainees bore little resemblance to traditional prisoners of war. The army's interrogation manual presumed adversaries who were essentially the mirror image of their captors, motivated by emotions that all soldiers share. A senior intelligence official who debriefed prisoners in the 1989 U.S. operation in Panama contrasts the battlefield then and now: "There were no martyrs down there, believe me," he chuckles. "The Panamanian forces were more understandable people for us. Interrogation was pretty straightforward: 'Love of Family' [an army-manual approach, promising, say, contact with wife or children in exchange for cooperation] or, 'Here's how you get out of here as fast as you can.' "

(...)  "Love of family" often had little purchase among the terrorists, however--as did love of life. "The jihadists would tell you, 'I've divorced this life, I don't care about my family,' " recalls an interrogator at Guantánamo. "You couldn't shame them." The fierce hatred that the captives bore their captors heightened their resistance. The U.S. ambassador to Pakistan reported in January 2002 that prisoners in Kandahar would "shout epithets at their captors, including threats against the female relatives of the soldiers guarding them, knee marines in the groin, and say that they will escape and kill 'more Americans and Jews.' " Such animosity continued in Guantánamo...

The above comments are from the very informative article on the issue of torture in the War on Terror entitled "How to Interogate Terrorists" by Heather MacDonald. The excellent comments below on MacDonald's article are by Soloman at Solomonia.com:

The sub-text of the problem - the reason there never will be a resolution on this issue - is that what many of the critics won't come out and tell you is that the issue of "torture" is a just a pre-text, the sharp end of the wedge, against the War on Terror generally. They simply don't believe in it - whether in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere. This is "The Bush Administration's War on Terror," after all, and not simply the "War on Terror" period. They don't believe in it, they don't believe in the USA's goals or methods and they'll do anything to make it more difficult for the US to pursue those goals. In their world, Jihadis are less dangerous than "Neocons." In the Left-wing (and even some of the Right-wing) fever swamps, all of the prisoners are being held unjustly - therefore subject to a kind of torture - since the conflict itself is unjust.

True of all critics of administration policy? No. It's right and understandable to be suspicious and worried about government power unleashed in secret. Sadly, though, so much of the information we receive in order to make our judgments and inform our worries is woefully agenda-driven or just naive and ill-informed. It's one thing to be a critical supporter of the effort, and quite another to be a critic simply hiding their true agenda - opposition to the effort itself, or using the WoT efforts as a wedge for domestic political gain. d the piece for at least one sober examination of the issues.

So aside from the political issues, what really matters to the terrorists if love of life and family have no meaning for them? From Dr. Jack Wheeler's article "How to Get a Terrorist to Sing Like a Canary Without Torture" we have an interesting practical approach for consideration:

(...)  The only practical argument against torturing terrorists is that it's so undependable: the guy will say anything to stop the torture. Often, a dramatic presentation of the threat of torture works better. Take the Israeli way:

(...)  When a Palestinian terrorist is captured, how many Israeli lives can be saved depends on how quickly and efficiently Shin Bet (Israeli Security) agents can make him squeal. They strip him naked and sit him in a chair with his legs forced apart. They bring in a large Doberman pincher whose muzzle is placed inches from his genitals. They explain: "This is Herman. Herman is a very unusual dog. Herman can smell when someone is lying. When someone lies, it gets Herman very mad. And when Herman gets mad, he bites - really hard. So we suggest you tell us the truth."

(...)  Works like a charm.

With what we are facing in this War on Terror, with an enemy that has no normal human capacity for emotion, for love of life, for love of family, and not even an ability for rational thought, the only thing left to use against such animals is the threat of the most basic animalistic concern - one's genitals. I say if it works, use it.