I know from personal experience that the abuse of prisoners will produce more bad than good intelligence.
Interpretation
Torturing prisoners often leads to unreliable information and ethical concerns.
John McCain's quote emphasizes that inflicting pain on prisoners to extract intelligence is not only morally wrong but also ineffective. His personal experience suggests that the information gained under duress is often flawed, leading to more harm than benefit, reinforcing the idea that humane treatment is essential for gathering accurate intelligence.
In practice
This quote could be used in a debate about the ethics of interrogation techniques.
Giap was a master of logistics, but his reputation rests on more than that. His victories were achieved by a patient strategy that he and Ho Chi Minh were convinced would succeed - an unwavering resolve to suffer immense casualties and the near total destruction of their country to defeat any adversary, no matter how powerful.
Whenever America sends its citizens into harm's way, it must do so with eyes wide open.
For decades we have been living lives of abundance, with little regard for our natural resources or global health. But we are now facing hard choices in our energy policy. Future generations - my children and grandchildren, along with yours - will have to live with the decisions we make today. And so it is time for us to make some tough and - hopefully - smart choices regarding our energy use and production before it is too late.
We need a free press. We must have it. It's vital.
I appreciate our government's determination to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of the Bytyqi brothers, which Serbia's Interior Minister has rightly called 'an exceptionally serious crime,' and hope the Serbian government's pledge of full cooperation... is matched by a final accounting of their murder.
What is most troubling about Mr. Putin's aggression in Crimea is that it reflects a growing disregard for America's credibility in the world. That has emboldened other aggressive actors - from Chinese nationalists to Al Qaeda terrorists and Iranian theocrats.
Are our lives truly filled with the presence of God? How many things take the place of God in my life each day?
The human race in the course of time has taken the liberty of softening and softening Christianity until at last we have contrived to make it exactly the opposite of what it is in the New Testament.
Why is it that all men who are outstanding in philosophy, poetry or the arts are melancholic?
I do not understand the capricious lewdness of the sleeping mind.
When we suffer anguish we return to early childhood because that is the period in which we first learnt to suffer the experience of total loss. It was more than that. It was the period in which we suffered more total losses than in all the rest of our life put together.
A world government with powers adequate to guarantee security is not a remote ideal for the distant future. It is an urgent necessity if our civilization is to survive.
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