"I agree that it is barbaric to torture people, but if it has to be done and if it saves lives then it is worth it."

Ahhh, but whose lives? Only the ones you think are worthy of saving? That's the problem with that argument. The terrorists use it too to justify the lives they say they are trying to save in the West Bank and Iraq. Are their lives worth less because you don't know them or share their culture?

I don't believe that self-proclaimed better motives justify the same actions one is condemning. Someone else always thinks their motives are better than yours.