MARK BOWDEN

Ground combat almost always kills more civilians than drone strikes do.

The most effective way to gather intelligence and thwart terrorism can also be a direct route into morally repugnant terrain. A survey of the landscape of persuasion.

As he understood it, word had leaked out about torture sessions conducted by a CIA agent, and the U.S. government was embarrassed.

No American president will ever pay a political price for choosing national security over world opinion.

Fear works. It is more effective than any drug, tactic, or torture device.

No one gets left behind, you know that.

Do me a favor, okay? Tell my parents that I fought well today. And tell them that I... that I... that I fought hard.

...Which brings me to the Hubble Space Telescope's newest images. If it's wonder that you're looking for, and mystery, don't just scan the photographs. Stop and think about them. Try to imagine the scale. The Earth is just a speck of dust on one distant whirling tentacle of the Milky Way galaxy, which contains billions of stars. A 'collision' of galaxies seems unimaginably large - and yet it is something scientists long ago imagined... The imaginings of pseudoscience are feeble by comparison.

Men in authority tend to abuse it – not all men, but many.

Excited. In a good way. I've been training my whole life for this.

An unfrightened prisoner makes an unlikely informer.

As he understood it, word had leaked out about torture sessions conducted by a CIA agent, and the U.S. government was embarrassed.

Fear works. It is more effective than any drug, tactic, or torture device.

Men are herd animals, and prefer to go with the flow, especially when moving in the other direction is harsh.

Men in authority tend to abuse it – not all men, but many.

The most effective way to gather intelligence and thwart terrorism can also be a direct route into morally repugnant terrain. A survey of the landscape of persuasion.

Ground combat almost always kills more civilians than drone strikes do.

No American president will ever pay a political price for choosing national security over world opinion.

These problems have been here so long that the only way I’ve been able to function at all is by learning to ignore them. Else I would be in a constant state of panic, unable to think or act constructively.

It's what you do right now that makes a difference.

No one gets left behind, you know that.

...Which brings me to the Hubble Space Telescope's newest images. If it's wonder that you're looking for, and mystery, don't just scan the photographs. Stop and think about them. Try to imagine the scale. The Earth is just a speck of dust on one distant whirling tentacle of the Milky Way galaxy, which contains billions of stars. A 'collision' of galaxies seems unimaginably large - and yet it is something scientists long ago imagined... The imaginings of pseudoscience are feeble by comparison.

Excited. In a good way. I've been training my whole life for this.

Do me a favor, okay? Tell my parents that I fought well today. And tell them that I... that I... that I fought hard.