Torture Redux

When Alberto Gonzales was appointed to become the next attorney general of the United States, he pledged that, as the highest law enforcement official of the United States, he would not support the use of torture.

Very reassuring.

Now, the United States is reportedly revising the procedures to be used in trying terrorism suspects now held at Guantanamo Bay, and one the changes (according the New York Times) is that the commissions established by the government of the United States will be "barring confessions obtained by torture".

Is this really necessary?

Is it really necessary for the officers and government of the United States to promise that they don't intend to obtain and use "confessions" obtained by inflicting as much pain as is necessary for a prisoner to say whatever it is you want them to say?

I thought that that we settled that with the Revolutionary War, the rejection of the "Star Chamber", and the adoption of the 5th Amendment.

Did the present administration somehow skip the lecture on basic civics, humanity, and morality?