I don't think that's right. I can't find anything in synopses on the Web indicating that Jack did any torturing at all in the first season. As I recall, he wasn't in a position to torture anybody at that time.

By the time of the second season, the idea of torturing people to prevent a terrorist attack was much in the air. In other words, I'm pretty sure the show was copying events in the real world, not the other way round.

Not a super important point, perhaps, except that this whole column is based on it. And this isn't the first time I've seen this allegation.