Brian Kilmeade on FOX & Friends said today that he "feels good" that KSM was tortured 183 times in a single month.
Kilmeade's disgusting reaction speaks to one of the great moral issues here. We rely on other human beings to react according to what's moral -- not what feels good. It doesn't always work that way, but torture is very simply one of those lines we should never have crossed. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, it might've felt good to preemptively launch a few warheads, but cooler -- moral -- heads prevailed. It might feel good to walk into your office this morning and punch your boss in the mouth. But civilizations practice restraint because, more often than not, the alternative is unspeakably evil.
As I wrote in my book, the previous administration tossed aside values and morality for the sake of a massive "feel good" power trip. The blowback for this behavior will impact generations of Americans. In other words, I suspect the hangover will be far worse in the long run than any of the dangers these policies might have prevented.
(Update: Edited for clarity.)