Trump: Defense Secretary Mattis can 'override' me on torture
15 replies, posted
[quote]Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump said Friday he will allow his Defense Secretary James Mattis to "override" him on torture, an issue on which the two men disagree.
"I don't necessarily agree, but I would tell you that he would override because I am giving him that power," Trump said Friday during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May. "I am going to rely on him."
Trump has in the past suggested that he would defer to Mattis, who is firmly opposed to reinstating torture, on the issue, but he appeared to go further Friday in closing the door on the issue.
Experts have repeatedly concluded that torture is not an effective means of gaining accurate information and that standard interrogation techniques that involve rapport-building are more effective.
Military leaders have also long expressed concerns that the use of torture could endanger US troops captured in foreign conflicts around the world by making enemies more likely to engage in torture practices.
Trump said in an interview with Fox News that aired Thursday night "Mattis said that he doesn't intend to use it. I'm with him all the way."
Still, in a significant moment, Trump proclaimed during the news conference that he believes torture "does work."
Both the United States and the United Kingdom have been signatories of the Geneva Conventions banning torture for more than a half-century.
"I happen to feel that it does work, I've been open about that for a long period of time, but I am going with our leaders and we are going to win with or without," Trump said.
Still, he added for emphasis, "But I do disagree."
Mattis, though, would not have oversight over the Central Intelligence Agency, the top US spy agency that in the wake of 9/11 used waterboarding, a method of torture, in interrogating terror suspects.
Mattis has said that beer and cigarettes work better than torture for getting information during interrogations.[/quote]
Video in link
[url]http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/27/politics/donald-trump-defense-secretary-override-on-torture/[/url]
[media]https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/825046211707170816[/media]
Probably realized how massive an issue it would be for his public appearance to keep going on with it.
He's doing bad enough in the polls without Mattis and McCain (etc) denouncing him for encouraging torture.
Now if only his cabinet would override him on everything else (except TPP) and confiscate his Twitter, we'd be in the right path.
THANK
GOD
[QUOTE=Llamaguy;51737973]Now if only his cabinet would override him on everything else (except TPP) and confiscate his Twitter, we'd be in the right path.[/QUOTE]
I believe the best path to go down would involve Trump, Pence, and their cabinet replaced entirely by sensible people with actual political experience.
[QUOTE=Llamaguy;51737973]Now if only his cabinet would override him on everything else (except TPP) and confiscate his Twitter, we'd be in the right path.[/QUOTE]
Then Trump can go back to being irrelevant again
I'd honestly trust Mattis more as prez than trump. I mean, I understand that it's probably outside his sphere of expertise and probably wouldn't go over all that well but holy balls do I find him more likeable on almost every front. He knows what he does and he gets shit done, and the people who work under him feel like he honestly cares about them. That's a leader if I've ever seen one.
[QUOTE=froztshock;51738029]I'd honestly trust Mattis more as prez than trump. I mean, I understand that it's probably outside his sphere of expertise and probably wouldn't go over all that well but holy balls do I find him more likeable on almost every front. He knows what he does and he gets shit done, and the people who work under him feel like he honestly cares about them. That's a leader if I've ever seen one.[/QUOTE]
Mattis would be a better presidential pick because he knows his area of expertise and knows where it ends.
Title and article are quite dishonest. Trump said in the conference that he believe torture works, but Mattis does not, and that he will allow Mattis to "override" him in that sense.
*Edit
I'm slow
ok now lets hope mattis overrides his entire "foreign policy"
Good to hear but it would be even nicer to just come out and say "I was wrong about torture".
strange times when the guy known as "mad dog" is the most sane member of the cabinet
[QUOTE=froztshock;51738029]I'd honestly trust Mattis more as prez than trump. I mean, I understand that it's probably outside his sphere of expertise and probably wouldn't go over all that well but holy balls do I find him more likeable on almost every front. He knows what he does and he gets shit done, and the people who work under him feel like he honestly cares about them. That's a leader if I've ever seen one.[/QUOTE]
Mattis is also one of the few people Trump genuinely seems to respect. Even long before picking him for the cabinet. It's most likely that Trump will probably reconsider some stances if Mattis points out that they are really counter-productive ideas. I think Mattis does hold a lot of sway within Trump's cabinet.
Ain't buying it.
Sorry, Trump has [B]got[/B] to denounce torture in public, via Twitter so that the "nasty liberal media" won't try to spin his words the wrong and unethical way.
The issue is not that the secretary of defense will be able to override Trump's orders on torture, the issue is that Trump vehemently believes that torture works.
No matter how hard you try to spin this, no matter how many layers of "bureaucratic security" you install, the fact that the President of the United States believes that torture is useful is a dangerous mindset, and [B]will[/B] backfire on the global efforts to fight terrorism.
[QUOTE=T553412;51738165]Ain't buying it.
Sorry, Trump has [B]got[/B] to denounce torture in public, via Twitter so that the "nasty liberal media" won't try to spin his words the wrong and unethical way.
The issue is not that the secretary of defense will be able to override Trump's orders on torture, the issue is that Trump vehemently believes that torture works.
No matter how hard you try to spin this, no matter how many layers of "bureaucratic security" you install, the fact that the President of the United States believes that torture is useful is a dangerous mindset, and [B]will[/B] backfire on the global efforts to fight terrorism.[/QUOTE]
This was an issue during George Bush Jr era.
[QUOTE=Guriosity;51738313]This was an issue during George Bush Jr era.[/QUOTE]
And it was Bush's own war on terror that spawned [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_Intelligence_Committee_report_on_CIA_torture"]possibly the most conclusive report[/URL] on the inefficacy of torture
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.