BB - "Can coercive interrogation ever be justified?"

Well, sure it can...under certain desperate circumstances, and we all know that (if we are prepared to be honest about it). Every police force in the world has at one time or another used "coercive interrogation" on a suspect (whether or not they were technically allowed to do so by the letter of the official rules they serve under)

My argument all along, however, has been this, BB: Such forms of coercive interrogation, meaning torture, should NEVER be sanctioned and legitimized by making them an officially legal policy of a government or a police force. The Bush administration did sanction them and did make it an official policy, and that was what scared me about the Bush administration.

I already know perfectly well that there have been and will continue to be some instances of coercive interrogation under virtually all governments at certain times...but it should never be sanctioned and made a legal (and therefore presumably justifiable) policy. If it is, you have right there the establishment of a fascist state, in my opinion. You have opened the door to massive abuses by the state, because the state has made the policy legal and there is therefore no redress against it, and no protection for prisoners at all.