I loved it. I don't think the article was saying that children left to CIO are 'broken like animals' on purpose by their loving parents. It's saying this is the end result, regardless of intention. It's saying that people resort to this because someone thought it up in a bid to 'liberate' parents from children who don't conform to the 'ideal' bodyclock, temperament etc.
When it comes down to it, it's the end result that the article is about - yeah, you got a 'compliant' child, at what cost? I don't believe the author is saying the parents are unloving. In fact, the point of the story about her husband WAS that he was otherwise loving and attentive, but when her needs conflicted with some idea of when she should just switch off and let him have his 'alone time', that's when the treatment was not dissimilar to old skool methods (sadly, not just old skool, people still use them) of training animals.
The point was that once you can empathise and force yourself to relate to the immature, inarticulate feelings of the pre-verbal child, you might just question what you 'should' be doing (according to the myriad sources of 'advice' out there) and decide to act on compassion and raise a child who can relate to others in a compassionate, empathetic and understanding manner.
The point was that it's not about the 'now', it's what we do TO our children now that will have effects later down the line and we will probably never fully realise the effects...hence all those parent/child relationships in adulthood that are fraught with discord for reasons people who aren't that parent and child can't readily see.
You do what you do based on the best information you have at the time (most parents, anyway!), not what you know to be crap but do it anyway...am I right? So, if you've been beating yourself up about something you did, there is always a way to reconcile with yourself and you need to figure that out, either with third-party help or personal insight.