Whether the US gov't is good at it is irrelevant, if we assume somebody else could plausibly be better. But if they're anywhere near an upper bound, then wheth

Whether the US gov't is good at it is irrelevant, if we assume somebody else could plausibly be better. But if they're anywhere near an upper bound, then whether they (a well-informed first-world superpower with a huge budget and a willingness to extradite people to places like Syria where there are effectively no rules) can make torture work is very relevant. Because if they can't, and torture is useless, then clearly the question is effectively resolved, at least in the real world. If torture is simply ineffective in real-world scenarios then the question goes away.