TRUMP SUPPORTS RETURN OF TORTURE

Reviving ‘black sites’ to interrogate terror suspects looms large

We’re not even in a position anymore, frankly, where we’re very often capturing people Rep. Liz Cheney Trump supporter

WASHINGTON— US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he thought water boarding and other interrogation techniques widely seen as torture—and prohibited by law—“absolutely” work, but would defer to his Central Intelligence Agency and Pentagon chiefs on whether to reinstate them.

When asked about water boarding in an interview with ABC News at the White House, Trump said it was necessary to “fight fire with fire” in the face of the beheadings of Americans and other atrocities by Islamic State militants.

The comments from the new Republican president—which echo statements he made on the campaign trail—come as reports suggested his administration may be considering the reinstatement of secret CIA “black site” prisons overseas.

“When they’re chopping off the heads of our people, and other people…when Isis is doing things that nobody has ever heard of since medieval times, would I feel strongly about water boarding? As far as I’m concerned, we have to fight fire with fire,” he said.

It works

But he said he would rely on the advice of Pentagon chief James Mattis and CIA director Mike Pompeo.

“I’m going to go with what they say,” Trump said.

“But do I feel it works? Absolutely, I feel it works,” he said.

The New York Times reported on a three-page draft order reauthorizing the “black site” prisons where suspects detained after the 9/11 attacks of 2001 were subjected to “en- hanced interrogation techniques”—including water boarding.

Rep. Liz Cheney applauded Trump’s plan to review inter- rogation techniques, stepping into a charged debate in which her father played a central role.

The Wyoming Republican, who was elected in November, is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, known for advocating enhanced interrogation techniques in the George W. Bush administration.

Cheney told reporters at the congressional GOP retreat in Philadelphia on Wednesday that she was “very heartened” to learn of the Trump administration move to conduct a sweeping review of how America conducts the war on terror, including possible resumption of banned interrogation methods.

Cheney said that since stopping the enhanced interrogation program “we’re not even in a position anymore, frankly, where we’re very often capturing people.”—