|
Gen. James N. Mattis, USMC (ret) |
The New York Times on Tuesday Jan 3, 2016 carried a front
page article on General
James N. Mattis and his views on torture, which conflicted
with
Donald Trump’s advocacy of bringing back the now banned practice of
waterboarding. General Mattis led the US
Central Command from August 2010 to March 2013.
Donald Trump supposedly was “surprised to learn” that his candidate to
head the Defense Department did not believe in torture. In a meeting with Mr. Trump in November, Gen
Mattis reportedly told the President-elect “Give me a pack of cigarettes and a
couple of beers and I do better with that than I do with torture.”
Whether the Trump administration will offer a modicum of
friendship and humanity to someone in a desperate situation or reintroduce
torture is yet to be seen. At present
there seem to be advocates for both positions.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are subject to moderation and must be submitted under your real name. Anonymous comments will not be posted (even though the form seems to permit them).