Comments About Torture by 45th US President Donald Trump – "…With Liberty and Justice for All"
Comments About Torture by 45th US President Donald Trump
Until the Abu Ghraib photos became public and the torture began to be publicly exposed, the widespread US Military/CIA torture and abuses occurring at Abu Ghraib prison were sanctioned all the way from the very top officials of the US Government, Military, and CIA. As of 2018, no higher-ranking US officials or officers have been held accountable in any court of justice by the United States for the George W. Bush Administration torture policy.
COMMENTS ABOUT TORTURE BY 45TH U.S. PRESIDENT (2017-) DONALD J. TRUMP:
An Analysis of Some of the Comments of Donald Trump
By Marc Immanuel
TRUMP TORTURE COMMENT 1
“…I would bring back waterboarding
[a torture method using simulated drowning [description, 10th],
and I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding…”
— Donald Trump, during his campaign for the US Republican Party presidential candidate nomination,
at a televised Republican presidential debate in Manchester, US state of New Hampshire, 6 February 2016
(news article, The Guardian; below, 12-second video of comment)
TRUMP TORTURE COMMENT 2
”…It [waterboarding] works…
And if it doesn’t work, they deserve it anyway —
for what they do to us…”
at a televised Trump campaign rally in Columbus, US state of Ohio, 23 November 2015
(news article, The Guardian)
In that comment, Republican candidate Donald Trump was implying:
that, he is convinced that torture in general is highly effective in forcing prisoners of war to confess valuable and accurate information they would not confess otherwise;
but that if it is not effective, “they” (implying Sunni Islamic extremist militants, in general), deserve to be tortured anyway — as punishment for extremely brutal crimes (amounting, under international law, to acts of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes) committed against US and US-led coalition state citizen civilians and prisoners of war (and also against other targeted groups, throughout the Eastern Hemisphere).
Below video (7 minutes):
a politically progressive internet talk show).
The commentary refers to the aforementioned comment by Donald Trump and asks, “Who is ‘they’?”, and then refers to the widespread US Military/CIA torture of prisoners of war who were not involved in any of the aforementioned crimes, during the George W. Bush Administration (2001-2009).
TRUMP TORTURE COMMENT 3
“…We have to fight fire with fire… I have spoken (as recently as 24 hours ago) with people at the highest level of intelligence, and I asked them the question, ‘Does it work? Does torture work?’ And the answer was, ‘Yes, absolutely’…”
“I will rely on [CIA Director (2017-)] (Michael R.) Pompeo and [Secretary of Defense (2017-)] (James N.) Mattis and my group, and if they don’t want to do it, that’s fine. If they do want to do it, then 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.”
— US President Donald Trump, 26 January 2017,
interview with ABC News (includes video of comment)
In that comment, in the phrase “fight fire with fire”, US President Donald Trump was using the word “fire” as a metaphor for ‘extreme brutality’.
He used examples of extremely brutal acts committed by the Islamist extremist militant organization IS (ISIS) [“Islamic State (of Iraq and Syria)”] (founded in 2013, 10 years following the US-led invasion of Iraq). Since 2013 and as of 2017, IS had been committing widespread atrocities worldwide — acts amounting, under international law, to acts of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
US President Donald Trump was implying: that, he considers it appropriate for modern UN member nation-states to use the “eye for an eye“ principle (or ‘law of retaliation’) — that is, to retaliate with ‘brutality for brutality’.
[Note also Trump torture comments 1, 2.]
Therefore, under current international and US national legal definitions, what Trump was advocating implies: retaliating with criminal acts for criminal acts.
Here [at Trump torture comment 3] was the Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful UN member state in the world, six days after his inauguration as 45th US President on 20 January, in the year 2017 CE [Gregorian calendar], publicly advocating torture of prisoners of war.
He was therefore advocating, essentially, the negation of all progress that has been achieved in international law by the nation-states since the end of World War II on 2 September 1945 (following the US atomic bombings of the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively).
[regardless of whether or not torture “works”,
under contemporary international (UN/ICC) law,
any form of torture, under any circumstances, is
a violation of the UN Convention against Torture,
and any form of torture of prisoners of war, under any circumstances, is
a war crime, Geneva Conventions, Protocol 1, Article 85 (5)
and ICC Statute, Article 8 (2) (a) (ii)]
Information about UN international law since 1948,
regarding torture or abuse of prisoners/detainees:
The Illegality of All Torture Under UN International Law
A COMMENT BY DONALD TRUMP REGARDING HIS RELIGIOUS VIEWS
”I believe in God.
I think The Bible is certainly, it is THE book…”
— Donald Trump, during time he was initially considering running for the US presidency,
interview with The Brody File, April 2011
(news article, CBN News, includes video of comment)
Below video (24 seconds): Donald Trump states that, ”Nothing beats the Bible”,
publicly declaring that the Bible is his “favorite book”.
A COMMENT BY JESUS OF NAZARETH
(”THE MESSIAH/CHRIST/ANOINTED ONE”)
New Testament, The Bible
”You have heard that it was said,
I, however, say to you:
Do not resist the evil [person(s)]…
[Meaning, basically:
Do not react to injustice by force, but respond by love —
toward both those who are just and those who are unjust.]
…Love your enemies,…
so that you may children of your Heavenly Father…”
— Yeshua (“Jesus”) of Nazareth,
during a sermon known as the ”Sermon on the Mount”, a. 27-30 CE
quoted in, The “Gospel of Matthew”
[The Good Message (“Gospel”) According to Matthew (the Apostle)],
Chapter 5 [”Sermon on the Mount” (full text)]: 38-45
A text in the New Testament
(the end portion of the Bible, consisting of early Christian texts communicating
the Message of Jesus of Nazareth through his Original Apostles)
The Bible [Greek, Βίβλος (Biblos), originally meaning, “Compilation of books“;
a combined compilation of ancient Judaic texts (Old Testament)
and early Christian texts (New Testament), all originally separate texts;
selected and compiled into the Biblos by collective decison of the bishops
of the ecumenical Christian Church in the 4th century] [text of Bible, NIV]
THE ERRONEOUS PERCEPTION OF THE BIBLE
AS A SINGLE BOOK INSPIRED BY A SINGLE SOURCE:
The Complete Contradiction Between the New Testament
and Much of the Old Testament
The ‘eye for eye’ law is from the Pentateuch (first five books in the Bible) — a compilation of ancient Hebrew texts compiled by the ancient Israelite (Judaic) priesthood.
The Pentateuch [Greek, literally, “the Five Books“, which in Judaism are referred to as the Torah (the Written Torah), Hebrew, literally, “the Instruction, Teaching“] is the primary text of the religion of Judaism.
The Pentateuch, together with some of the other texts in the Old Testament, condones many acts which, under contemporary international (UN/ICC) law, amount to genocide, crimes against humanity, crimes of aggression, and war crimes.
THE TRUE TEACHING OF JESUS OF NAZARETH
The New Testament is based absolutely in the Teaching of spiritual teacher Yeshua (“Jesus”) of Nazareth (a. 4 BCE – April a. 30 CE) — whose basic oral sayings are recorded in the included Four “Gospels” (of “Matthew”, “Mark”, “Luke”, and “John”).
[text of New Testament, NRSV]
That Teaching does not condone any act which, under contemporary international (UN/ICC) law, amounts to a crime.
[(time period: 2017 (1st year of Donald Trump’s presidency)]
Comments About Torture by 45th US President Donald Trump – "…With Liberty and Justice for All"
Comments About Torture by 45th US President Donald Trump
Until the Abu Ghraib photos became public and the torture began to be publicly exposed, the widespread US Military/CIA torture and abuses occurring at Abu Ghraib prison were sanctioned all the way from the very top officials of the US Government, Military, and CIA. As of 2018, no higher-ranking US officials or officers have been held accountable in any court of justice by the United States for the George W. Bush Administration torture policy.
COMMENTS ABOUT TORTURE BY 45TH U.S. PRESIDENT (2017-) DONALD J. TRUMP:
An Analysis of Some of the Comments of Donald Trump
By Marc Immanuel
TRUMP TORTURE COMMENT 1
“…I would bring back waterboarding
[a torture method using simulated drowning [description, 10th],
and I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding…”
— Donald Trump, during his campaign for the US Republican Party presidential candidate nomination,
at a televised Republican presidential debate in Manchester, US state of New Hampshire, 6 February 2016
(news article, The Guardian; below, 12-second video of comment)
TRUMP TORTURE COMMENT 2
”…It [waterboarding] works…
And if it doesn’t work, they deserve it anyway —
for what they do to us…”
at a televised Trump campaign rally in Columbus, US state of Ohio, 23 November 2015
(news article, The Guardian)
In that comment, Republican candidate Donald Trump was implying:
that, he is convinced that torture in general is highly effective in forcing prisoners of war to confess valuable and accurate information they would not confess otherwise;
but that if it is not effective, “they” (implying Sunni Islamic extremist militants, in general), deserve to be tortured anyway — as punishment for extremely brutal crimes (amounting, under international law, to acts of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes) committed against US and US-led coalition state citizen civilians and prisoners of war (and also against other targeted groups, throughout the Eastern Hemisphere).
Below video (7 minutes):
a politically progressive internet talk show).
The commentary refers to the aforementioned comment by Donald Trump and asks, “Who is ‘they’?”, and then refers to the widespread US Military/CIA torture of prisoners of war who were not involved in any of the aforementioned crimes, during the George W. Bush Administration (2001-2009).
TRUMP TORTURE COMMENT 3
“…We have to fight fire with fire… I have spoken (as recently as 24 hours ago) with people at the highest level of intelligence, and I asked them the question, ‘Does it work? Does torture work?’ And the answer was, ‘Yes, absolutely’…”
“I will rely on [CIA Director (2017-)] (Michael R.) Pompeo and [Secretary of Defense (2017-)] (James N.) Mattis and my group, and if they don’t want to do it, that’s fine. If they do want to do it, then 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.”
— US President Donald Trump, 26 January 2017,
interview with ABC News (includes video of comment)
In that comment, in the phrase “fight fire with fire”, US President Donald Trump was using the word “fire” as a metaphor for ‘extreme brutality’.
He used examples of extremely brutal acts committed by the Islamist extremist militant organization IS (ISIS) [“Islamic State (of Iraq and Syria)”] (founded in 2013, 10 years following the US-led invasion of Iraq). Since 2013 and as of 2017, IS had been committing widespread atrocities worldwide — acts amounting, under international law, to acts of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
US President Donald Trump was implying: that, he considers it appropriate for modern UN member nation-states to use the “eye for an eye“ principle (or ‘law of retaliation’) — that is, to retaliate with ‘brutality for brutality’.
[Note also Trump torture comments 1, 2.]
Therefore, under current international and US national legal definitions, what Trump
 was advocating implies: retaliating with criminal acts for criminal acts.
Here [at Trump torture comment 3] was the Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful UN member state in the world, six days after his inauguration as 45th US President on 20 January, in the year 2017 CE [Gregorian calendar], publicly advocating torture of prisoners of war.
He was therefore advocating, essentially, the negation of all progress that has been achieved in international law by the nation-states since the end of World War II on 2 September 1945 (following the US atomic bombings of the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively).
[regardless of whether or not torture “works”,
under contemporary international (UN/ICC) law,
any form of torture, under any circumstances, is
a violation of the UN Convention against Torture,
and any form of torture of prisoners of war, under any circumstances, is
a war crime, Geneva Conventions, Protocol 1, Article 85 (5)
and ICC Statute, Article 8 (2) (a) (ii)]
Information about UN international law since 1948,
regarding torture or abuse of prisoners/detainees:
The Illegality of All Torture Under UN International Law
A COMMENT BY DONALD TRUMP REGARDING HIS RELIGIOUS VIEWS
”I believe in God.
I think The Bible is certainly, it is THE book…”
— Donald Trump, during time he was initially considering running for the US presidency,
interview with The Brody File, April 2011
(news article, CBN News, includes video of comment)
Below video (24 seconds): Donald Trump states that, ”Nothing beats the Bible”,
publicly declaring that the Bible is his “favorite book”.
A COMMENT BY JESUS OF NAZARETH
(”THE MESSIAH/CHRIST/ANOINTED ONE”)
New Testament, The Bible
”You have heard that it was said,
I, however, say to you:
Do not resist the evil [person(s)]…
[Meaning, basically:
Do not react to injustice by force, but respond by love —
toward both those who are just and those who are unjust.]
…Love your enemies,…
so that you may children of your Heavenly Father…”
— Yeshua (“Jesus”) of Nazareth,
during a sermon known as the ”Sermon on the Mount”, a. 27-30 CE
quoted in, The “Gospel of Matthew”
[The Good Message (“Gospel”) According to Matthew (the Apostle)],
Chapter 5 [”Sermon on the Mount” (full text)]: 38-45
A text in the New Testament
(the end portion of the Bible, consisting of early Christian texts communicating
the Message of Jesus of Nazareth through his Original Apostles)
The Bible [Greek, Βίβλος (Biblos), originally meaning, “Compilation of books“;
a combined compilation of ancient Judaic texts (Old Testament)
and early Christian texts (New Testament), all originally separate texts;
selected and compiled into the Biblos by collective decison of the bishops
of the ecumenical Christian Church in the 4th century] [text of Bible, NIV]
THE ERRONEOUS PERCEPTION OF THE BIBLE
AS A SINGLE BOOK INSPIRED BY A SINGLE SOURCE:
The Complete Contradiction Between the New Testament
and Much of the Old Testament
The ‘eye for eye’ law is from the Pentateuch (first five books in the Bible) — a compilation of ancient Hebrew texts compiled by the ancient Israelite (Judaic) priesthood.
The Pentateuch [Greek, literally, “the Five Books“, which in Judaism are referred to as the Torah (the Written Torah), Hebrew, literally, “the Instruction, Teaching“] is the primary text of the religion of Judaism.
The Pentateuch, together with some of the other texts in the Old Testament, condones many acts which, under contemporary international (UN/ICC) law, amount to genocide, crimes against humanity, crimes of aggression, and war crimes.
THE TRUE TEACHING OF JESUS OF NAZARETH
The New Testament is based absolutely in the Teaching of spiritual teacher Yeshua (“Jesus”) of Nazareth (a. 4 BCE – April a. 30 CE) — whose basic oral sayings are recorded in the included Four “Gospels” (of “Matthew”, “Mark”, “Luke”, and “John”).
[text of New Testament, NRSV]
That Teaching does not condone any act which, under contemporary international (UN/ICC) law, amounts to a crime.
[(time period: 2017 (1st year of Donald Trump’s presidency)]