[jplahn]

You're missing the entire problem with this premise.

Somebody torturing a man that has his family held hostage is entirely different than state sponsored torture. I think that should be obvious.

People understand the fact that on the battlefield, sometimes torture happens, even when it shouldn't. When a soldier tortures somebody they just captured to keep their fellow soldiers alive, we don't agree with it, but there's a different mentality surrounding it. When the government TELLS that soldier to torture somebody, then it's a different matter entirely. This same idea is at work with your example above.