Courtesy of Raw Story:President Trump tells ABC News he believes waterboarding works – but will "rely" on his Cabinet to determine if the policy is resurrected. http://pic.twitter.com/0nCFAfhlK1— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) January 25, 2017
In an exclusive interview with ABC, President Trump said he believes that torture works and would employ it if he got a sign-off from his close advisors.
Citing terrorists “cutting off the head of victims,” Trump said he feels he must respond with harsh measures.
“I want to keep our country safe,” Trump explained. “When they’re chopping off the heads of our people, when they’re chopping off the heads of people because they happen to be a Christian in the Middle East.. would I feel strongly about waterboarding? As far as I’m concerned, we have to fight fire with fire.”
Of course Trump is either lying about those intelligence folks telling him that torture works, or he is talking to some agents who are telling him what he wants to hear in order to garner his favor.
We have already tried this in the past and we found that not only did it not work but that it seriously damaged our reputation around the world and negatively impacted the very psyche of our country.
There is some hope in Trump's statement that he will take direction from General Mattis who said to Trump:
"I've never found it to be useful,"' Mr. Trump said, describing the general's view of torturing terrorism suspects. He added that Mr. Mattis found more value in building trust and rewarding cooperation with terror suspects: '"Give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers and I'll do better."'
That seems pretty definitive.
However new CIA Chief Mike Pompeo seems a little wishy washy on the topic:
In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Pompeo had pledged that as CIA director he would not allow the use of torture in interrogations. But in subsequent written questions he appeared to backtrack on that commitment and others, alarming Senate civil rights advocates.
Pompeo also suggested that the Army Field Manua, which currently forbids torture, may be due for a rewrite.
Well on thing for sure if Trump wants to bring back torture he will have to go through John McCain to do it.
I imagine that McCain will not be alone in his opposition either..@POTUS can sign whatever executive orders he likes, but the law is the law - we're not bringing back torture https://t.co/m9YjDtNYBQ— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) January 25, 2017
I swear that everyday this nightmare just keeps getting more and more frightening.
Source http://ift.tt/2j6pHBn
