Trump Cites Hoax Email as National Security Policy and Also Wants Torture

Trump Speech: "Make America Great Again" and "Bring Back Torture"

(standing in front of Old Glory makes it legit I guess???)

This post piggy backs on Trump's earlier suggestion that he would bring back water boarding (which I have said for years is illegal, unlawful and a war crime and has been for decades) from here and posted in part as follows:

Seen above, Trump used this platform on February 19, 2016, and just a few days before the SC primary, to reiterate his support for water boarding — a tactic many Republican candidates have vowed to bring back.

Trump stated his position and asked about that subject this way: “Is it torture or not? It’s so borderline. It’s like minimal, minimal, minimal torture.”

(My Note: I would have to say that his analogy of using the word minimal regarding level of torture is damn weak and tantamount to him saying: “She is or was almost pregnant or a little pregnant”).

A group of non-partisan former national security, law enforcement, and interrogators wrote a letter (February 17, 2016) condemning the use of torture on prisoners saying in part:

“Torture is not only illegal and immoral; it is counterproductive. It tends to produce unreliable information because it degrades a detainee’s ability to recall and transmit information, undermines trust in the interrogator, and often prompts a detainee to relay false information that he believes the interrogator wants to hear. It also increases the risk that our troops will be tortured, hinders cooperation with allies, alienates populations whose support the United States needs in the struggle against terrorism, and provides a propaganda tool for extremists who wish to do us harm.”

As a former professional and experienced Marine and DOD interrogator for nearly 12 years it’s nice to see others speaking out on this very serious topic – one that if Trump were to get his way would harm the country far more that in the past like in places such as Abu Ghraib, more recently in Gitmo, and at a number of CIA “black sites” around the globe.  

No amount of political rhetoric and campaign hype (or BS) from anyone can ever change that dynamic: Torture is torture and the pros know it, even if the politicians and novices do not. That should matter, but does it really in the final analysis bounced up the GOP “fear factor” for surely fear sells and the GOP are great at selling that load.

Thanks for stopping by.