Torture: Thinking About the Unthinkable

I found it funny how McCarthy seemed calm and joking in his third paragraph when he was talking about beheading and similar ideas, yet on page 654 he puts an exclamation point after women when saying, "the dark brutality of which men (and women!) have historically shown themselves capable".
But anyway, he does prove his point that torture does have its benefits. It does seem a bit extreme that a terrorist, who has killed people and/or who has information that could save hundreds of innocent lives, can't be interrogated fully because it may bring harm to him.