The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that a draft executive order calling for a review of interrogation techniques banned under the Obama administration—and raising the possibility of reopening CIA secret torture sites—did, in fact, come from the White House. That’s contrary to the claims of presidential press secretary Sean Spicer, who said Wednesday that it did not.
The document in question, copies of which were obtained by The New York Times and The Washington Post, has sparked a considerable outcry on Capitol Hill, including criticisms from Sen. John McCain. The draft order also reportedly “blindsided” Defense Secretary James Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
The Journal cited an unnamed U.S. official as saying the draft order had been sent by White House officials to National Security Council staff for review. Whatever the source of the document, just the fact that it was being considered is disturbing. The attention given the document on Capitol Hill and elsewhere gave Pr*sident Trump another opportunity to express his views on torture:
“As far as I’m concerned, we have to fight fire with fire,” he said in an interview with ABC News. “I want to do everything within the bounds of what you’re allowed to do legally, but do I feel it works? Absolutely I feel it works.” [...]
After taking office in 2009, President Barack Obama ordered a review of interrogation methods. The resulting report, portions of which were released last month, found no support among national security officials for reinstituting so-called enhanced interrogation techniques or other abusive methods.
Trump said he would follow the advice of Mattis and Pompeo in this matter, which could mean the draft executive order will never get his signature. Unnamed sources cited by Politico said the two men were stunned by the document. On Capitol Hill, opposition came from both Democrats and Republicans. Austin Wright reports:
Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called Mattis and Pompeo on Wednesday to reiterate “that any attempt by this administration to restart torture is absolutely unacceptable,” according to the Virginia senator.
"I intend to hold nominees, including Director Pompeo and Secretary Mattis, to their sworn testimony to follow the law banning the use of enhanced interrogation techniques,” Warner said, adding that he would seek the same assurance from former Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.), Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence.
McCain, who was tortured by his North Vietnamese captors 50 years ago and co-authored the 2015 statute that prohibits the CIA and other agencies from using interrogation techniques beyond those detailed in the U.S. Army Field Manual, was adamant about his opposition.“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,” he said.
But critics in human rights groups and civil libertarians have expressed fears that the kind of review the draft order calls for might be a pretext for an end run around the torture prohibition. Spencer Ackerman at The Guardian reports:
“US law is clear that the army field manual cannot be modified for at least two years, and even then, to ensure it complies with domestic US legal obligations. Reviewing whether ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ should be part of that manual would be tantamount to reviewing whether torture should be part of it, and such a review should not be undertaken,” said Laura Pitter of Human Rights Watch.
Mark Fallon, who was the deputy chief of Guantánamo’s Bush-era investigative taskforce for military tribunals, said: “It does appear like a subterfuge to enact more brutal methods because that was what candidate Trump campaigned on during the election.”
CIA torture didn’t begin only in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The agency has engaged in, taught and condoned torture for decades.
In 1963, the CIA issued what amounted to a how-to field manual on torture codenamed KUBARK. A supplement to that was added in 1983. However, before the exposure a decade ago of the CIA’s secret dungeons and the torture that occurred in them, high government leaders didn’t give public support for torture the way, say, Vice President Dick Cheney did or the way Trump has.
While opposition to relaxing the prohibitions on interrogation techniques appears quite solid and likely to prevent any major changes for the moment, it doesn’t take any effort to imagine a return to waterboarding and far worse techniques if the U.S. were to suffer on Donald Trump’s watch another foreign-sponsored terrorist attack anywhere near as large as the 9/11 attacks.
