Why did the tortue occur? Because Bush and Rumsfield ordered it - stating:
The United States recognizes that the Geneva Conventions outlawing prisoner abuse apply to the war in Iraq. But it has said al Qaeda "terrorism" suspects do not qualify as prisoners of war under the terms of the treaty.
Newsweek on Sunday disclosed a memorandum by White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales written in Jan. 25, 2002, that said "the war against terrorism is a new kind of war."
"In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions," he said.
We are hearing a lot of doublespeak about whether or not torture works. The media has trotted out many "experts" that claim that torture doesn't work. Millitary people who denounce the turtore as the Abu Ghraib prison keep saying - torture doesn't work.
On the other hand they are making the opposite argument that "torture is necessary" in order to get information to save lives. They still want to be able to use torture stating that the Geneva Convention doesn't apply to everyone. They create classifications of people who they can torture. They also ship certian prisoners to countries who haven't signed the Geneva Convention so they can be tortured for us.
So - if torture doesn't wwork - then why does the Bush administration continue to pursue it.
It's the same sort of doublespeak about does America torture people or not. "Of course we don't torture people! We are civilised Americans - not barbarians!" But on the other hand American have black ops programs that do things we don't want to think about so that the government can pretend that they don't do the things they are really doing. And this is supposed to be a lie that we are all supposed to accept and believe.