Pentagon officials say that Defense Secretary James Mattis remains opposed to torturing detainees, despite President Donald Trump’s comments Wednesday in favor of the idea, saying Mattis is committed to upholding international law, including the Geneva Conventions.
Mattis was the first major cabinet nominee to express opposition to returning to a policy of torture, and reportedly sat down with Trump to explain to him that torture simply didn’t work. Trump, who had previously insisted anyone who doubted torture was stupid, expressed surprise Mattis wasn’t okay with it.
But the Trump transition team stopped talking about torture after Mattis expressed opposition, with CIA Director Mike Pompeo also coming out against torture, and insisting that he would openly defy any orders to return to torture. At the same time, Pompeo said he couldn’t imagine Trump ordering torture.
In comments Wednesday, Trump again started hyping the idea of a return to torture, saying top intell0igence officials had all assured him it works well, and that not torturing ISIS would be unfair, because ISIS gets to torture people.
At the same time, Trump has insisted he is going to rely on Mattis and Pompeo on the issue, saying “if they don’t wanna do it, it’s 100% okay with me.”
JANUARY 1, 2015 We’ve Known for Over 2,000 Years that Torture Produces False Confessions
We’ve Known Since Ancient Rome that Torture Doesn’t Work In 72 BC – 2,086 years ago – Cicero (the well-known Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer, orator, political theorist and consul) pointed out that torture creates conditions of fear and desperate hope in which “there is but little room left for truth”, that torture is an unreliable method of extracting truth.
http://investmentwatchblog.com/weve-known-for-over-2000-years-that-torture-produces-false-confessions/
Your efforts are appreciated Brian but you’ve missed the point. (see above)
But we could always have a fun conversation on the use of torture. It works as often as not. It’s said to have worked on McCain.
(shhhhhhhh)
And there’s no denying that it became an enjoyable pastime for those US soldiers who worked at Abu Ghraib.
Let’s clear the air of any misunderstanding. All countries’ spokespersons must declare that they are totally opposed to torture. Period!
Then all countries covertly resort to torture. Period!
It’s just so unusual that any country’s president is ignorant enough to declare that he supports the use of torture!
Will somebody please pass that message on to their president? It just may not be too late to put this one to bed?