Waterboarding

Let's Talk About Waterboarding

... under discussion. With Justice Department lawyers asserting that the near-drowning technique did not violate the law - in a series of verbal and written opinions that have since been discredited - the president apparently had the legal cover he needed to authorize the CIA's crimes. These memos served a purpose - they were used to facilitate torture. But their reasoning was shoddy; their citation of precedent was scattershot and unreliable; and their conclusions were simply wrong. A report from the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility issued in February 2010 firmly repudiated the memos' legal reasoning. It found specifically that, in drafting the memos, Yoo had "violated his duty to exercise independent legal judgment and render thorough, objective and candid legal advice.". An Ongoing Investigation. Despite the crumbling of torture's legal facade, investigations into the ...

Liz Cheney Supports Waterboarding, Attacks Cia Torture Report

... That CIA program was investigated by the Senate Intelligence Committee, and found to be more brutal than the CIA originally disclosed and ineffective in producing intelligence. Some details of the investigation were released in a 2014 report. “The use of enhanced interrogation has been ― when it was in use ― very limited,” Cheney said, “limited to only three people who were waterboarded and used in a situation where we had to get information to save American lives.”. “It’s the responsibility of any chief executive, any commander in chief to make sure we use every tool at our disposal,” she continued, “understanding that it’s not torture. We don’t torture, we haven’t tortured. What we’re talking about is the ability to get information from people who don’t want to provide information and who have information that could well save American lives and prevent attacks.”. Reminded that the Senate torture report refuted those claims, and pressed for evidence that such techniques were, in fact, useful in finding the courier that led intel officials to bin Laden, Cheney ...

Trump's Cia Pick Said He Was Against Waterboarding. Then He Changed His Tune

... consult with the experts at the Agency and at other organizations in the U. S. government on whether the Army Field Manual uniform application is an impediment to gathering vital intelligence to protect the country or whether any rewrite of the Army Field Manual is needed," Pompeo wrote. "If any such differences are justified, a fundamental requirement is that such differences fully comply with law, including laws governing the treatment and interrogation of individuals.". The written questions also elicited Pompeo's thoughts on the CIA's collection of publicly available information on Americans, a controversial practice given that the CIA is generally a foreign-focused intelligence agency that's supposed to engage in only limited domestic activity. "I made the __link__ the context of if 'someone's out there on their Facebook page talking about an attack or plotting an attack against America,'" Pompeo wrote in response to questions from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). "In such cases, publicly available information can provide relevant information and generally involves fewer privacy concerns than other collection ...

Trump Says He'll 'rely' On Cabinet On Whether To Resurrect Waterboarding

... to keep our country's what does that mean shooting when they're chopping off the heads of our people and other people. When they're chopping off heads of people because they happen to be a Christian Middle East when crisis is doing things that nobody has ever heard of since medieval times. Would I feel strongly in waterboarding. As far as I'm concerned we have to fight fire with right now. That being said. I'm going we general matters I'm going with my secretary because I think pump it's going to be phenomenal. I'm gonna go with what they say. But I have spoken as recently. Is. 24 hours ago. With people at the highest level of intelligence and I asked him the question. Does it work does torture work. Idiots who was yes absolutely you're now the president do you want waterboarding. I don't want people to chop off the citizens or anybody's heads in the Middle East okay. Because there Christian or was local or anything else I don't want look now they chapel muff and put them on camera they send them along with the world. So we have and we're not allowed she doing. We're not playing an even field I will say this. I will relying on Pompeo and madness and ...

The Wall, Vote Fraud Probe, Waterboarding

... got around that by employing "enhanced interrogation techniques" that its lawyers said stopped short of torture. Mc Cain and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., tightened the ban in a 2015 law that specified only those techniques listed in the Army Field Manual. At his confirmation hearing for attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama affirmed that waterboarding is illegal. The new CIA director, Mike Pompeo, assured senators that he won't attempt to reinstate techniques not listed in the Army Field Manual and testified that "I can't imagine I would be asked that by the president-elect.". Mc Cain expressed confidence on Wednesday that the ban is legally airtight, and that Congress won't reverse it for Trump. This Day in Trump: Tracking the first 100 days. Late night lines. Greenpeace protesters unfurled a banner that read "Resist" atop a crane several blocks north of the White House. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images). Trump's penchant for keeping ...

Will Donald Trump Bring Back Torture

... the US did achieve with countries that hosted black sites, such as Poland, Lithuania, Romania, and Thailand, required both the transfer of large sums of money and consistent diplomatic effort to maintain highly unstable cooperative relationships – even when the programme was secret. Once it was revealed in 2006, it became almost impossible for the CIA to maintain existing partners or find new ones. Assuming that international conditions are relatively similar, there is little to suggest that Trump’s waterboarding policy would find much international support among traditional American allies. This is particularly the case since, unlike Bush, Trump openly uses the word “torture”, which is unambiguously in violation of the laws of armed conflict and international human rights law. Trump will almost certainly need to consider the diplomatic fallout of open waterboarding policy, particularly with respect to intelligence-sharing and joint military ...

Does Waterboarding Work? Seven Questions About The Controversial Interrogation Technique

... when interrogating captured North Vietnamese soldiers. U. S. military personnel are still trained on SERE (Survival Evasion Resistance Escape) techniques and subjected to waterboarding in training situations to help them resist if they are captured. How did it come back into use by the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The CIA hired two former military psychologists after 9/11 to assist in the interrogation of high-value al-Qaeda detainees held at secret CIA prisons overseas. The psychologists, James E. Mitchell and John “Bruce” Jessen, helped develop an escalating series of enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, for the agency to use on terrorism suspects. Which terrorist suspects have been waterboarded and where. Three CIA detainees were waterboarded after 9/11. Abu Zubaydah, an alleged al-Qaeda facilitator, was the first detainee to be waterboarded. In 2002, ...

President Trump On Waterboarding

... with what they say. But I have spoken as recently as 24 hours ago with people at the highest level of intelligence and I asked them the question. Does it work? Does torture work - and the answer was yes, absolutely. MUIR: You're now the president. Do you want waterboarding back. TRUMP: I don't want people to chop off the citizens' or anybody's heads in the Middle East, okay? Because they're Christian or Muslim or anything else. I don't want, look. /. TRUMP: Now they chop them off and they put them on camera and they send them all over the world. So we have that, and we're not allowed to do anything. We're not playing on an even field. I will say this. I will rely on Pompeo and Mattis and my group. And if they don't want to do, that's fine. If they do wanna do, then I will work toward that end. I ...

Sessions Reveals Whether He Thinks Waterboarding Is Legal

... that it would never happen again. He said. I am glad he is able to say waterboarding was utilized only three times, that it had not been used in 5 years. But I am glad he also said he would not say it would never be done again. This would be unwise advice to the enemy we face. And in 2015, Sessions voted against a measure that would have restricted interrogation tactics used by the FBI and CIA. Then, Sessions said. I believe the CIA and the FBI should be able to use all lawful procedures to interrogate individuals who are committed to the destruction of America. I think the country is on a sound path to curtailing abuses, but we don’t need to go so far that an individual who’s maybe associated with a group of people who are plotting to blow up Manhattan – that that person can’t be interrogated lawfully but not just according to the Army manual. Aside from torture techniques, Sessions faces a harsh confirmation hearing that has already brought up allegations of racism and homophobia. He also broke with Trump on the issue of a Muslim ...

Trump’s Waterboarding Fantasy Hits A Road Bump During Confirmation Hearings

... “Those are very, very serious charges to make and I would want to have much more information before reaching a conclusion,” Tillerson said. “I understand that there is a body of record in the public domain—I’m sure there is a body of record in the classified domain. And I think that in order to deal with a serious question like this, I would want to be fully informed before advising the president.”. So it appears Trump has one backer if Tillerson’s nomination isn’t derailed by Rubio and possibly others like John Mc Cain. Back in November, Mc Cain gave a blistering warning to Trump’s stances on waterboarding and torture. “I don’t give a damn what the president of the United States wants to do. We will not waterboard,” Mc Cain told an audience at the annual Halifax International Security Forum. “We will not torture people … It doesn’t work.”. Trump’s choice to head the CIA, Mike Pompeo is iffy. He did say he doesn’t support bringing torture back in an exchange with Sen. Dianne Feinstein ...

Cia Pick Pompeo Defies Trump, Says He Won't Waterboard

... or blog. Torture Techniques. Pressed on his views about "enhanced interrogation techniques" — which Pompeo has defended as legal and patriotic, not as torture — the four-term Republican said Thursday that current law limits interrogation to techniques outlined in the Army Field Manual , which does not include methods like waterboarding. In order to bring back enhanced interrogation techniques, Pompeo said, Congress would have to the change the law. Furthermore, Pompeo added that he would "absolutely not" follow an order from the president to restart any techniques that fall outside of the Army Field Manual. Trump campaigned in part on a promise to bring back waterboarding. "I can't imagine that I would be asked that," Pompeo said, without acknowledging Trump's campaign commitment. "I am deeply aware that any changes to that will have to come through Congress… I'll always comply with the law.". Copy this code to your website or blog. Iran Deal. A foreign policy hawk ...

Cia Documents Expose Internal Agency Feud Over Psychologists Leading Interrogation Program

... of Medical Services. The Counterterrorism Center ultimately awarded Mitchell and Jessen increasingly rich contracts to manage the interrogation program. One of the newly released files praised their accomplishments and noted that between 2005 and 2009, the consulting firm created by the two psychologists had been paid more than $71 million. A Senate investigation of the interrogation program released in 2014 included references to internal concerns about Mitchell and Jessen, and the CIA’s response to the report acknowledged that it had made mistakes in not addressing conflicts that emerged in their role as contractors. Continue reading. Other newly released documents include a summary of an interview with Jessen as part of an internal CIA inquiry into the 2002 death of Gul Rahman, a detainee who died after being doused with water and left overnight in frigid conditions in a prison in Afghanistan known as ...