That isn't my criterion in the least. When I say "torture," I mean the break-out-the-red-hot-pincers treatment. I mean thumbscrews and boiling oil and the boot.
Generally speaking, there are rules to waging war, and if we want to think of ourselves as the good guys we should follow them. Simple survival is the goal of animals and DUers, and we are better than that. We are civilized.
But that isn't what the present argument is about. It's about the enemies of this country and this administration trying to put anything that is coercive into the same category as the rack and hot irons. It's about making sleep deprivation and panties on the head into moral equality with Hussein's wood chipper and rape rooms.
More importantly, it is a cynical political ploy for short term advantage, using the safety of citizens as a game piece. With their short sightedness, even if it wins the next presidency for them, they will have fatally compromised their own ability to act against terrorists. After decrying Bush's WMD criteria and demand for UN sanction, what will they do when it becomes necessary to do something about Korea or Iran or one of the former Soviet Crapistans with nukes? After undermining and compromising his electronic intelligence policy, how will they keep tabs on plotters? After using operatives in the CIA and State Dept. to leak and run partisan attacks, how will they be able to demand secrecy and loyalty? After banning all practical interrogation techniques and demanding the scum get 2 pro-bono lawyers apiece, how will they stop the next Islamowhacko from killing you for Allah?