[BelegStrongbow]

Not to be contentious, but Sayid did torture Nadia before the Americans ever showed up. The difficulty for him was that he was being ordered to torture his own commander, who almost succeeded in neutering him through insults and insinuations.

However, I also got the impression that he went further for the Americans than he ever had for Saddam, and that is unlikely in the real world to several levels of magnitude.

[fr_freak]

Not to be contentious, but Sayid did torture Nadia before the Americans ever showed up. The difficulty for him was that he was being ordered to torture his own commander, who almost succeeded in neutering him through insults and insinuations.

I'm afraid you've gotten your timeline mixed up. In the show Sayid never tortured ANYONE until the Americans showed up. His torture of Nadia, in fact his entire torture career, all happened after the incident with the Americans and his commander. Sayid, himself, whines about how he was a good man who never did any of these horrible things until the Americans came. That was what made it so objectionable and ridiculous.