Prosecuting torture?

It is difficult to imagine two articles more opposed to each other than these: Prosecuting Bush: On Second Thought...., by Ben Johnson (no, not that Ben Johnson), and Steve Chapman's Waking up to torture truths. Did the Bush administration sanction torture of prisoners in violation of both domestic and international law? If so, why should those responsible be exempt from prosecution? Even if it did produce "high value information" (which Chapman doubts), is torture ever justified? Johnson's case would be more persuasive if he would move beyond charging his opponents with weakness and "Carterism" and clearly address the justice of such tactics as waterboarding and sleep deprivation.