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Correct me if I'm wrong here, but were not many of the Abu Ghraib prisoners actually just criminals, not military combatants or POWs?
Assuming they were criminals, or any part of the tortured population were criminals, then this falls in line with almost all torture - it wasn't done for information. From the folks I've worked with, torture is extremely difficult to get a grasp on. The "Why" of it haunts them. They eventually settle on some combination of "They hated me, it was political/religious persecution, and they were making an example."
And Davros, I'd like to add to your "Reasons to be suspicious of further (higher up) involvement: Mr. Gonzales's infamous "Torture Memo" - the legal defense of presidential torture authorization. It's easy to discount it, unless you've read it. Creepy stuff.
None of this is a matter of policy (I hope), but I'd be happier if everyone who supports and advocates torture is weeded out of our governing body.
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