“This is not something you can do without legal support, congressional support and public support, and that support does not exist.”
John McLaughlin — Deputy CIA Director
“Torture is the weapon of the bully, the coward and the fool, and the US president’s record testifies that he is well qualified to speak on its behalf.”
John le Carré — The Times (
Former CIA Analyst John Kiriakou
January 28 2017 — On Wednesday (January 25 2017), it was revealed that the White House was planning to issue an executive order to study whether or not the CIA should revive the network of secret prisons. President Trump also said he would ‘absolutely’ bring back banned interrogation methods like waterboarding. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today
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UPDATE (January 28 2019) — David John Moore Cornwell — better known by the pen name John le Carré — recently threw his weight behind calls for a judge-led inquiry into British torture complicity.
The 85-year-old novelist wrote the following opinion piece published by The Times on August 17 2018.
There is, as we must all admit, no question of whether Britain was an accomplice to America’s programme of rendition and torture. The rendition of Abdel Hakim Belhaj and his wife, conducted in 2004 with the active co-operation of MI6, is documented and publicly acknowledged by the government.
Mrs May herself has rightly described their treatment as “appalling”.
The question now is to what extent and by whose authority such complicity occurred. (…)
Torture is the weapon of the bully, the coward and the fool, and the president’s record testifies that he is well qualified to speak on its behalf.
But in our country, and in every decent country in the world, torture is vile, useless, abhorrent and illegal.
The prime minister should authorise a judge-led inquiry into the extent of Britain’s involvement in this disgraceful crime.
During the 1950s and 1960s, David Cornwell worked for both the Security Service and the Secret Intelligence Service.
END of UPDATE
The news caught many by surprise including Mr Trump’s cabinet members James Mattis and Mike Pompeo as well as his European allies.
The draft of the executive order
“Specifically, the draft order would revoke two executive orders about detainees that Mr. Obama issued in January 2009, shortly after his inauguration.
One was Mr. Obama’s directive to close the Guantanamo prison and the other was his directive to end C.I.A. prisons, grant Red Cross access to all detainees and limit interrogators to the Army Field Manual techniques.
In their place, Mr. Trump’s draft order would resurrect a 2007 executive order issued by President Bush.” [NYT]
Theresa May
Theresa May has indicated that the UK could stop working with US intelligence agencies if they adopt torture techniques for extracting information from suspects.
“We do not sanction torture and we do not get involved in it. That will continue to be our position.”
RELATED POST: Ex-CIA Sabrina De Sousa to be Extradited to Italy in 24 Hours
Mike Pompeo
CIA director, Mike Pompeo, was “surprised” by a report of a draft executive order directing the agency to reexamine the use of interrogation techniques that are legally considered torture.
RELATED POST: Senate Confirmation Hearing of Mike Pompeo as CIA Director
When asked by Senator Dianne Feinstein if he would “restart the CIA’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques that fall outside of the Army field manual,” Pompeo replied, “absolutely not.”
But in a series of written responses to senators’ questions, Pompeo did leave the door open for reviving some of the techniques, should experts say their prohibition harmed intelligence gathering — but only if the current laws prohibiting them were changed.
John Kiriakou
John Kiriakou was charged with leaking information about the interrogation of an Al Qaeda leader and disclosing the name of a CIA analyst involved.
RELATED POST: Obama’s Crackdown on National Security Leaks
Kiriakou gave an interview on ABC News in 2007 detailing the Bush administration’s use of waterboarding in interrogating terrorist suspects.
He was convicted in October 2012 and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison.
Interview
REFERENCES
Trump Poised to Lift Ban on C.I.A. ‘Black Site’ Prisons — NYT
Donald Trump says he believes waterboarding works –BBC
CIA director ‘surprised’ by torture memo — CNN
CIA would face hurdles to reopen ‘black site’ prisons, regardless of president’s orders – WP
Why Trump Won’t Reopen the CIA’s Black Sites — Bloomberg
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One Year Ago — CIA Torture Whistleblower John Kiriakou Responds To President Trump
Two Years Ago — CIA Torture Whistleblower John Kiriakou Responds To President Trump
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