Machiavelli said it best

Weekly Review (Harpers.org):

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld apologized for the torture of Iraqi prisoners and said that there are “many more photographs and indeed some videos” of American soldiers engaging in “blatantly sadistic, cruel, and inhuman” behavior; Rumsfeld took “full responsibility” for the abuse but still refused to resign. [ . . . ] American soldiers allegedly put a harness on an elderly Iraqi woman and rode her like a donkey. New charges included rape, murder, and child molestation. “The system works,” Rumsfeld told the Senate.

The end justifies the means?