In a Senate floor statement on the “National Defense Authorization Act for FY 06,” Sen. John McCain addressed President George W. Bush on the implications of torturing prisoners: “But to do differently not only offends our values as Americans but undermines our war efforts because abuse of prisoners harms, not helps, us in the war against terror. First, subjecting prisoners to abuse leads to bad intelligence because under torture a detainee will tell his interrogator anything to make the pain stop. Second, mistreatment of our prisoners endangers U.S. troops who might be captured by the enemy, if not in this war then in the next. And third, prisoner abuses exact on us a terrible toll in the war of ideas because inevitably these abuses become public, as was revealed–or at least a prison system was revealed; I don’t know what goes on in them–on the front page of one of our major newspapers.”
– John McCain, “FLOOR STATEMENT BY SENATOR JOHN McCAIN ON THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FY 06,” USSenate.gov, Nov. 4, 2005