While you might think that torture has degree a relativity about it and that it is in some sort of special category, you ignore that torture has definitions in law and in treaties (which are also the "highest law of the land", according to article IV of the Constitution). Words do indeed have meaning and it is you who want to strip torture of its meaning. Whether or not you find them to be reasonable definitions does not enter into it.
I have an idea for you. Take a few minutes and actually read the Convention against Torture (signed by President Reagan in 1988 and ratified by the Senate in 1994):
CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html
When you are done with that, take a few minutes and actually read about torture in the U.S. Code:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sup_01_18_10_I_20_ 113C.htmlAnd after that, oh, why not, go ahead and take a few minutes and read the U.S. Code on War Crimes:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_ 00002441----000-.htmlWhat is truly offensive is the trying to explain away something as fundamentally evil as torture by trying to excuse it based on the motivations of those who commit it or order it.