Trump could reinstate CIA's secret 'black site' prisons - U.S. officials

[webfact]

Trump could reinstate CIA's secret 'black site' prisons - U.S. officials

By Jonathan Landay and Mark Hosenball

REUTERS

 

The exterior of Camp Delta is seen at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, March 6, 2013. REUTERS/Bob Strong

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to order a review that could lead to the reinstatement of a CIA program to hold terrorist suspects in secret overseas "black site" prisons that used interrogation techniques often condemned as torture, two U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

 

The black sites were used to detain suspects who were captured in the "war on terrorism" launched by former President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

 

The now defunct program's Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, which included simulated drowning known as water boarding, were criticized around the world. Former President Barack Obama and other senior U.S. officials denounced water boarding as torture.

 

The officials said Trump is expected to issue an executive order in the next few days. It would call for a high-level review into "whether to reinitiate a program of interrogation of high-value alien terrorists to be operated outside the United States" and whether the CIA should run the facilities," according to a copy of the draft published by the Washington Post.

 

There is widespread opposition in Congress, in U.S. intelligence agencies and within the military to reopening black sites and revisiting the use of harsh interrogation techniques, according to the serving officers.

 

“The President can sign whatever executive orders he likes. But the law is the law. We are not bringing back torture in the United States of America," Senator John McCain, a Republican, said in a statement.

 

Asked about the issues, Trump administration spokesman Sean Spicer said the draft was not a White House document.

 

The CIA black sites were located in Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Thailand and Afghanistan.

 

In 2006, Bush ended the use of harsh interrogation techniques and closed all the blacks sites except for one in Kabul.

 

Trump's draft order also would authorize a review of interrogation techniques that U.S. officials could use on terrorism suspects, and keep open the detention centre at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and send new prisoners there.

 

Trump vowed during the 2016 election campaign to resume water boarding and a "hell of a lot worse."

 

The draft on the Washington Post web site says that, "No person in the custody of the United States shall at any time be subjected to torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as proscribed by U.S. law.”

 

However, the Justice Department under Trump could issue an interpretation of U.S. law that allows for the use of harsh interrogation techniques as occurred in the so-called “Torture Memos” drafted under the Bush administration in 2002 and subsequently withdrawn.

 

"WORRISOME"

 

Human rights groups decried any attempt to bring back the black sites.

 

"This is an extremely disturbing and outrageous attempt to open the door again to systematic torture and secret detention. This is the Trump administration making good on its most worrisome comments during the campaign,” said Naureen Shah, Amnesty International USA’s director of national security and human rights.

 

Trump's order, if enacted, could put new CIA Director Mike Pompeo in a tight spot given that his workforce, according to multiple serving officers, largely opposes reinstating the "black sites" program.

 

As a conservative congressman from Kansas, Pompeo defended the CIA’s use of harsh interrogation techniques, arguing that they produced useful intelligence.

 

During his confirmation hearing for CIA director, he pledged he would "absolutely not" reinstate those methods. Yet in written responses to questions from Senate Intelligence Committee members, he appeared to leave the door open to restoring them.

 

"If experts believed the current law was an impediment to gathering vital intelligence to protect the country, I would want to understand such impediments and whether any recommendations were appropriate for changing current law," Pompeo wrote.

 

(Writing by Yara Bayoumy and Warren Strobel.; Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Alistair Bell)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-01-26

[Thechook]

You're back in business Thailand

[ezzra]

 

Somehow, I don't think that those Black sites were ever dismantled, they just went

dipper underground and officially were off the books, the reasons being that

there are only that many times you can ask a terrorist  nicely and pretty please

to cough up information before the water boarding and other persuasive measures

are applied....

[Emster23]

" The CIA black sites were located in Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Thailand and Afghanistan. "

See, US does want to invest in Thailand, due in part to it's lax attitude towards regulation I would guess. So much for bringing industry back to USA. And torture should be on the growth list for industry.

[mettech]

When terrorist are cut they should be interrogated the hard way and after get to dispose of it.

So why not dig a hole in sand and let red ants have a go at it.

[Credo]

I am not a fan of torture and even less a fan of the use black sites.   I wasn't even aware we were catching many terrorists.   You need boots on the ground to catch terrorists, and we don't have too many of those.   Most are being eliminated with drones.   

[chilli42]

It's interesting.  I am not opposed to these sites ... it's a dirty world so you have to play by its rules.  That said, I have been stuck by the quotes from Mr Mattis (new seretary of defense) that torture is useless.  He seems to feel that it does get information but most all of it is useless and made up just to avoid the torture.

[mike324]

Torture will just bring more revenge, if you want to have torture sites why even announce it, keep it hush.

[Stargeezr]

Boots on the ground to catch terrorists,  OH Yeah! Another great idea.  Actually to catch

terror suspects, the old good info and surprise attacks work too, and a bit of

Tounge loosening helps in a lot of cases.  If torture is needed to bring the likes if

ISIL, and other terror groups down, go for it!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

There are many problems about this, including eroding the U.S.'s already tenuous moral authority as a leading nation/democracy.

 

But one of the more practical issues is that a lot of the people (enemy combatants) detained in the Bush Presidency era of torture were never actually charged with any crimes -- not in military court, not in civilians courts. They were just kept in custody for years, abused and tortured, and then ultimately a lot were just relased and sent back to other countries. In part because it's pretty hard to obtain convictions of suspects when there's clear evidence their statements were obtained under the duress of torture.

 

Edited January 26, 2017 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[jcsmith]

We know Trump has said many times that he supports the return of waterboarding. But a related quote that people rarely mention is this, "The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families, when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, don't kid yourself. When they say they don't care about their lives, you have to take out their families."

 

Even if you can get past the fact the both waterboarding and taking out the families of suspected terrorists are war crimes, I think the fact that he has the audacity to come out and say these things gives you a view inside of the head of this president. And it's not a pretty sight.

[mtls2005]

This is going to be the best water-boarding ever. Trust him, he's "like a smart guy".

 

I suspect some of his more ardent supported think he's getting so much done, signing all these "orders"?

[JKfarang]

2 hours ago, chilli42 said:

It's interesting.  I am not opposed to these sites ... it's a dirty world so you have to play by its rules.  That said, I have been stuck by the quotes from Mr Mattis (new seretary of defense) that torture is useless.  He seems to feel that it does get information but most all of it is useless and made up just to avoid the torture.

 

Not only is torture unethical, immoral and inhumane it is in my opinion, completely ineffective.  Common sense tells me that the tortured will tell the torturer anything they want to hear to make it stop.  Back during the years of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, I finally came to the conclusion that they didn't really care whether the "information" obtained was true or not.  All they wanted was something/anything they could use to put fear in the minds of the American people and further their agenda.

 

As with the shameful killing of innocent civilians (via warrantless invasions, drone strikes, etc.), the ineffective torture of sometimes innocent people is accomplishing only 1 thing: increasing the number of people worldwide who hate America.  The US govt is, in effect, creating many more enemies than it is getting rid of and that will last for generations.

 

[dcutman]

21 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

This is going to be the best water-boarding ever. Trust him, he's "like a smart guy".

 

I suspect some of his more ardent supported think he's getting so much done, signing all these "orders"?

You are another one that believes everything that is said on the internet. Not that it really matters, but one should feel stupid for believing everything put in front of them until it is official.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-executive-action-torture-black-site-prisons/

[mtls2005]

You are another one that believes everything that is said on the internet. 

 

I do realize that he hasn't signed any order re: enhanced interrogation techniques, yet.

 

However, he is on record, for all that that matters, as being generally in favor of torture. Would it surprise me if he drafted and issued a comprehensive Executive "terror" Order, among which was a section asking for the relevant authorities tor examine the legality, feasibility, implementation of enhanced interrogation? Uhm, No.

 

[dcutman]

1 minute ago, mtls2005 said:

I do realize that he hasn't signed any order re: enhanced interrogation techniques, yet.

Well the fact remains, you read this article, and took it for fact, as many do, and its not. At least up to this point.

 

[mtls2005]

10 minutes ago, dcutman said:

Well the fact remains, you read this article, and took it for fact, as many do, and its not. At least up to this point.

 

Well, the thread title is "Trump could reinstate CIA's secret 'black site' prisons - U.S. officials"

 

So "could" was sort of a giveaway.

 

That said, in the President's interview last evening on ABC he does seem to go a bit farther than "could"...I love having a "fabulous" CIA head.

 

Torture starts about 14:00

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

Sounds like part of the anti Trump campaign of fake news. Notice that no one is saying they will be reinstated, just could be.

[thaivisadetective]

2017, thousands of reports, discussions, anaylsis saying torture is useless and yet in US and as well on TV you find people gullible enough to find any interest in it.

Every suspect which was tortured confessed everything just to stop it.

Some of the people praising tortures are the same one crying fool about the two burmeses guys in Koh Tao case...

Idiocracy, here we come!

[dunroaming]

Trump is just adopting the Putin approach.  His hero knows how to run a country the way it should be run.

[mtls2005]

 

 

White House press secretary Sean Spicer cast doubt on the provenance of the draft document Wednesday, saying that “it is not a White House document” and “I have no idea where it came from.”

 

The document was provided to The Post by a person who said it had been circulated among agencies in Washington for comment. The immediate feedback, this person said, helped convince the White House counsel that the document needed wider distribution and review before being finalized. It was unclear which agencies received the document, but those with the most direct stake would include the CIA, the Pentagon, and the State and Justice departments.

 

It’s not yet clear whether Trump will sign the draft order, or whether senior members of his administration who have been skeptical of such plans, including Defense Secretary James Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, were consulted.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/white-house-draft-order-calls-for-review-on-use-of-cia-black-sites-overseas/2017/01/25/e4318970-e310-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html?utm_term=.50fb271e54b6

Edited January 26, 2017 by mtls2005

[KenKadz]

A country that is not as willing to be as ruthless as its enemies has lost.

[dunroaming]

18 minutes ago, KenKadz said:

A country that is not as willing to be as ruthless as its enemies has lost.

A country with no moral compass is lost.

[optad]

Wholly retrograde.

[rijb]

Madonna will have her own room.

[mtls2005]

28 minutes ago, KenKadz said:

A country that is not as willing to be as ruthless as its enemies has lost.

 

Is that from "Braveheart"?

[maoro2013]

On 26/01/2017 at 6:32 AM, webfact said:

The President can sign whatever executive orders he likes. But the law is the law. We are not bringing back torture in the United States of America," Senator John McCain, a Republican, said in a statement.

I thought these sites were outside of America.

[Rhys]

that one in issan will have to be cleaned up because the villagers have been using it, as a market.

 

Edited January 27, 2017 by Rhys

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

14 hours ago, Rhys said:

that one in issan will have to be cleaned up because the villagers have been using it, as a market.

 

Ahhh!!!!  But that's where they probably have you fooled!

 

Odds are, those folks you THINK are local villages are in fact CIA contractors in disguise, just waiting to get out their water boards and other implements of torture and abuse. They've been waiting a long time for someone like President Trump to come along...

 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 1/26/2017 at 11:55 PM, dunroaming said:

A country with no moral compass is lost.

History does not support your opinion.

While Rome was at it's most brutal and cruel it was the ruler of the known world. It was only when it became corrupt and soft that it was lost.

When Britain ruled the world, it wasn't exactly a "gentle" country and indulged in lots of very immoral behaviour.