I tend to agree with you about the values and morals. But there is a case to be made for timely intelligence and certain, ah, "questionable" methods used to extract it. Again though, we have to ask ourselves if a timely resolution to a time-sensitive operation is more for the sake of the citizenry or for the sake of politics.
It is not true that all enhanced interrogation techniques breach the definition of torture. It is also not true to say that none of them do. But how we define "torture" itself is often a moving goalpost. If making someone believe they are about to die is torture, that can be accomplished with mere words alone. If sleep deprivation is considered torture, certain job markets in the US would apply due to the availability or lack thereof of jobs in a "normal" 9-5 setting (I know someone right now who is working nights at a restaurant and early mornings at a coffee shop, due to lack of anything else she is qualified for... is the job market "torturing" her?). If putting someone under any kind of duress is considered torture, then most police actions are torturous. If putting someone in solitary confinement is considered torture (or just confining them, period), then our prison system executes systematic torture.
It can be a clear cut case by definition when people are beaten or mutilated, and indeed those cases rarely yield anything beyond the first words the victim thinks might make it stop, but take the example of waterboarding. There is no physical harm done, but the subject does undergo a great deal of mental and emotional stress. Well, what level of "mental stress" is considered torturous? Until someone breaks and willingly gives up information? Well, that just means that it works and we have an ethical argument for if the ends justify the means. But if we set the limit at "lasting psychological harm," then we should never arrest anyone ever again, as that can be a traumatic experience for an individual, as well as an undefinable limit to be able to legislate into our moral code. Is spanking a child "lasting psychological harm"? What about raising your voice? What about the potential damage done to a fragile ego by merely explaining how they might be wrong?