Black sites, renditions, and all those other War on Terror-isms that had supposedly been consigned to an earlier and darker period of America’s counter-terrorism efforts seem to be making a comeback. But they were an absolute horror show the first time around, and here’s why.
The Washington Post obtained what it claims is a draft version of an executive order reauthorizing a review of interrogation guidelines, along with the continued operation of the Guantanamo Bay prison facility and the possible re-introduction of a number of Bush-era policies, including interrogation of terror suspects outside the United States.
During a briefing on January 25, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer didn’t deny the document’s authenticity, opting for the classically non-denial denial-type formulation that the draft was “not a White House document.” Regardless of where in the executive branch it may have originated, the draft is consistent with President Donald Trump’s repeated endorsement of torture over the course of the campaign—even when it puts him at odds with his own retired general turned Defense Secretary—as well as with his accusations that President Barack Obama had placed “political correctness” above national security in responding to terrorism.
- http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/read-the-draft-of-the-executive-order-on-cia-black-sites/2288/
- http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/22/obama-close-terrorist-black-sites/
Once it became covert U.S. policy that the traditional laws of war did not apply to terrorism suspects, the government had a much freer hand in determining the limits of what it was legally allowed to do for national security purposes—but it didn’t have an entirely free hand. Intelligence agencies were still hamstrung by the possibility of their activities being exposed to both terrorists and the broader public. And if the Geneva Conventions now meant very little within a U.S. counter-terror context, intelligence agencies were still subject to domestic civilian legal jurisdiction for anything they did inside the America’s borders.
Image and Source: http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/all-the-shit-that-can-go-wrong-with-cia-black-sites-1791657247