Does the end justify the means?

Continued from Machiavelli, does the end justify the means? If the answer yes, then you have just approved the Bush Doctrine. If we attack other nations in fear of being attacked, without sufficient evidence, we as the world leader are essentially encouraging other nations to do the same. Its like we hold up a neon sign for the terrorist groups to the same. Also, if we torture people to get information, that allows other countries to torture our soldiers. The question is: do we really want to torture people and allow our soldiers to be inflicted excruciating pain. I don't think that our soldiers deserve it. We can't risk our country's honor. Most importantly, is it even humane to torture people for any reason at all? People might say that soldiers should love their country more than their life. Does that mean we can throw away their lives, like tissues?

I believe that wars are pointless and that we should not waste our soldier's lives. Essentially, for every person a soldier kills, there will be some person who mourns for him/her and will cause even more violence. All the soldiers that come back alive, will be portrayed as heroes for a time, but only history can make the real judgment. One of my favorite books by Orson Scott Card, Speaker of the Dead, Ender was regarded as a hero of the world at the end of the war (Ender's Game), but later, he was portrayed as evil because the human's view towards the Formics changed. Ender himself also changed his view later for the reason that was only ostensible to him.