Torture is immoral. Torture is illegal. Torture is ineffective.

These three truths, coupled with the shameful backsliding during the post-9/11 years of the George W. Bush administration, should have permanently put the torture issue to rest.

But torture as a U.S. policy option returned during the campaign of Donald Trump, who as president has held to his ill-considered belief that torture works, regardless of ethics and law.

Thankfully, President Trump has also said that he would yield to Defense Secretary James Mattis, who wisely pledged that the U.S. will not torture.

But America's international image already has been damaged. Trump, after all, announced his policy during a news conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May, an event of global interest since it was his first official meeting with a foreign leader.

Mattis was joined by responsible Republican voices speaking with moral clarity. Arizona Sen. John McCain and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham were forceful in insisting the U.S. will abide by standards, laws and treaties.

"The president can sign whatever executive orders he likes," McCain said in a statement. "But the law is the law. We are not bringing back torture to the United States of America."

Despite Trump's pledge to defer to Mattis, his unyielding belief in the value of torture — "I happen to believe that it does work. I've been open about that for a long time," Trump said during his appearance with May — means that Congress, Cabinet members and the American people need to remain vigilant.

"It's shocking now that as a country this is a place where we are at," Curt Goering, executive director of the Minnesota-based Center for Victims of Torture, told an editorial writer. "For our entire national history we've been seen as a beacon of hope that stands for human rights and ideals, and none is more central than how we treat people."