ISIS: America will fight fire with fire – Trump
US President Donald Trump ignited a row over the use of waterboarding Wednesday after claiming intelligence professionals told him it “absolutely works.”
In an interview with ABC News, he said the US must “fight fire with fire” when dealing with terrorists in comments which reverberated around the world.
And while he did concede he would follow the lead of his Secretary of Defense James Mattis and his CIA director Mike Pompeo, Trump’s remarks started a worldwide debate over the use of Torture.
The Senate voted overwhelmingly to ban torture across the US government in 2015, codifying a ban President Barack Obama issued by executive order shortly after he was sworn in in 2009. Obama then signed the updated defence authorization bill into law — but Trump has suggested he’s not against reversing such a position.
He says that the US is “not allowed to do anything” while ISIS posts a video online of executions carried out by beheading.
“I’ve spoken as recently as twenty-four hours ago, with people at the highest level of intelligence, and I asked them the question,” Trump said.
“Does it work? Does torture work? And the answer was yes. Absolutely.
Trump also stated if Pompeo and Mattis did not want to go down the route of Torture then “that’s fine.”
He added: “If they do want to do it, I will work toward that end. I want to do everything within the bounds of what you’re allowed to do legally. But do I feel it works? Absolutely I feel it works.”
