Obama's definition of torture more expansive than European Court of Human Rights

Opinion Journal:

...

The President also cited Winston Churchill, who, he said, refused to torture German detainees even when "London was being bombed to smithereens." But Churchill did authorize the firebombing of Hamburg and other cities, the human toll of which numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Does Mr. Obama consider that a more ethical approach to our enemies?

Still, the President's reference to Britain was unwittingly instructive, since the British treatment of IRA detainees during the "troubles" of Northern Ireland was one of the benchmarks the Bush Administration used in distinguishing between harsh treatment and actual torture. A 1978 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights found that "stress positions," "hooding," and sleep deprivation did not, in fact, constitute torture.

...

I think the British did cause some discomfort to some Nazis who were captured out of uniform. However, are the Democrats like Obama prepared to call the Europeans torturers too. I thought Obama was doing all this to get their good opinion of us but he winds up insulting them by calling them torturers.