The Return of Torture?

The Economist has an interesting and disturbing piece about U.S. complicity of torturing suspects in the war on terrorism:

If, in their efforts to defeat al-Qaeda, American officials are moving towards a policy of using torture on a systematic basis, or conspiring with other countries to do so by handing over suspects to them for interrogation in the full knowledge that torture will be used, this would be a remarkable and ominous reversal of policy.

That's still a big "if," but the story provides some very troubling details.