In the post-Republican debate environment, Donald Trump has seemingly backpedaled on his support for enhanced interrogation of terrorists or terrorist suspects, which many argue constitutes torture or war crimes.
During last night’s contentious GOP debate, Trump declared that “We should go for waterboarding and we should go tougher than waterboarding” in response to beheadings and other acts by ISIS and other groups.
He also advocated the targeting (without explaining what specific measures he had in mind) of terrorists’ families.
In a follow-up, Trump insisted that military officers would carry out his orders no matter what, even if illegal under international law. “They won’t refuse. They’re not going to refuse me, believe me. If I say do it, they’re going to do it. That’s what leadership is all about.”
The Detroit GOP debate televised by the Fox News Channel got another big number, about 17 million viewers.
Upon taking office, President Obama banned waterboarding and other CIA enhanced interrogation techniques.
In the February 7 GOP debate aired on ABC, Trump rival Ted Cruz claimed that waterboarding is not torture under the law but “according to most other legal interpretations, waterboarding does meet the definition of torture,” LawNewz observed .
As the Inquisitr previously explained , on the campaign trail Trump had defended his views on advanced interrogation techniques, saying that the U.S.’ refusal to use such methods to combat terrorism was creating an atmosphere conducive to more extremism, and saying that if elected, he would authorize much harsher methods for dealing with terrorism suspects.
Trump backs down from waterboarding comments, says he won’t ask troops to violate law https://t.co/AkPmdEoQMV
— Bo Snerdley (@BoSnerdley) March 5, 2016
Former Secretary of the Navy and ex-presidential candidate Jim Webb was among many intelligence officials who pointed out that the military is not required to carry out an illegal order under the Geneva Conventions.
“Military experts have been staunchly critical of Trump’s past statements on the issues of torture and military law,” Business Insider claimed.
In a statement to the Wall Street Journal , Donald Trump has clarified his position on torture.
“I will use every legal power that I have to stop these terrorist enemies. I do, however, understand that the United States is bound by laws and treaties and I will not order our military or other officials to violate those laws and will seek their advice on such matters. I will not order a military officer to disobey the law. It is clear that as president I will be bound by laws just like all Americans and I will meet those responsibilities.”
Donald Trump is a first-time candidate running a very unconventional campaign, which partially explains, like him or not, his appeal to a significant portion of the electorate. Even many of his devoted admirers would have to acknowledge that he doesn’t seem to be hunkering down with briefing books or engage in other form of debate prep as his rivals or other office-seekers traditionally do. Therefore, Trump tends to shoot from hip sometimes during these forums (as well as his riffs during campaign rallies), which apparently contributed to this about-face, as it were, on waterboarding.
Donald Trump suddenly softened his stance on torture after getting blasted by military and legal experts https://t.co/xnoU9nZwkg
— Insider Politics (@insiderpolitics) March 4, 2016
Parenthetically, the GOP frontrunner created a lot of buzz last night when he started off the debate satirically rebutting Marco Rubio’s mockery of his hands as they related to other body parts.
For many viewers, watching the debate might have been the equivalent of torture, given all the back-and-forth bickering about many tangential matters.
Donald Trump is taking a lot of flak from the GOP establishment on a host of issues, which probably in part led to this reversal on waterboarding. “Trump’s earlier statements were among those that prompted a group of more than 100 leaders in the Republican foreign policy and national security community to write an open letter Wednesday condemning Trump and pledging to oppose his presidential candidacy,” CNN reported .
This reversal is unlikely to satisfy his critics on either side of the political aisle who are accusing him of flip-flopping among other things.
“The shifts come as the campaign has moved to a new phase, in which Mr. Trump is attempting to position himself better for a potential general-election campaign, while also coming under pressure to flesh out his sparse policy positions,” WSJ added.
[Photo by Paul Sancya/AP)
