On 14-Sep-2009, "nom=de=plume" wrote:

Is a threat to a family member 'torture'? Is waving an unloaded pistol
in your face 'torture'? Suppose someone just looked at you with their
eyes crossed. Would that qualify as 'torture'?

?? You need to re-read the definition of torture and the treaty we pushed
for and signed forbiding it.

a.. anguish: extreme mental distress
a.. unbearable physical pain
a.. agony: intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain;
"an
agony of doubt"; "the torments of the damned"
a.. torment: torment emotionally or mentally
a.. distortion: the act of distorting something so it seems to mean
something it was not intended to mean
a.. subject to torture; "The sinners will be tormented in Hell, according
to
the Bible"
a.. the deliberate, systematic, or wanton infliction of physical or mental

suffering by one or more persons in an attempt to force another person to
yield information or to make a confession or for any other reason; "it
required unnatural torturing to extract a confession"

Perhaps you should volunteer to tickle their balls and the maniacs would
confess.