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President-elect Donald Trump may choose an architect of the George W. Bush administration's torture program, Jose Rodriguez, to head the CIA, The Intercept reported Friday.
The Intercept cites a post-election prediction from Dentons, a law firm where Trump confidante Newt Gingrich (himself a potential secretary of state) serves as an advisor. "Dentons was also retained by Make America Number 1, one of the primary Super PACs supporting Trump's candidacy," the outlet writes.
Rodriguez directed the National Clandestine Service and "helped develop the CIA black sites, secret prisons operated in foreign countries where interrogators used a range of torture tactics, including the use of 'waterboarding,' the simulated drowning technique once used by the Khmer Rouge and Nazi agents to glean information from detainees," The Intercept writes.
The horrific torture techniques used by the Bush-era CIA have been made public by former detainees and rights organizations in the years since the program ended. They include beatings, makeshift electric chairs, hanging detainees from ceilings by the wrists for days at a time, holding drills to detainees' heads and threatening their families with rape, as well as various forms of water torture.

Trump campaigned on a promise to bring back waterboarding. "I like [waterboarding] a lot," he told a cheering crowd in June. "I don't think it's tough enough."
Last month, a federal judge ruled that Rodriguez would be subjected to questioning in an ongoing ACLU lawsuit over the torture regime he directed.
Rodriguez is also infamous for destroying 92 tapes of CIA personnel torturing detainees. "I was just getting rid of some ugly visuals that could put the lives of my people at risk," the torture architect said in defense of the decision, according to his book published in 2012.
The Justice Department declined in 2010 to investigate Rodriguez for destroying the tapes.
Rodriguez expresses pride for his role in the torture program, telling 60 Minutes in a 2012 interview that "we did the right thing for the right reason."
Former detainees--that is, those who survived--continue to suffer from the debilitating psychological effects of severe trauma for years after enduring CIA torture.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
President-elect Donald Trump may choose an architect of the George W. Bush administration's torture program, Jose Rodriguez, to head the CIA, The Intercept reported Friday.
The Intercept cites a post-election prediction from Dentons, a law firm where Trump confidante Newt Gingrich (himself a potential secretary of state) serves as an advisor. "Dentons was also retained by Make America Number 1, one of the primary Super PACs supporting Trump's candidacy," the outlet writes.
Rodriguez directed the National Clandestine Service and "helped develop the CIA black sites, secret prisons operated in foreign countries where interrogators used a range of torture tactics, including the use of 'waterboarding,' the simulated drowning technique once used by the Khmer Rouge and Nazi agents to glean information from detainees," The Intercept writes.
The horrific torture techniques used by the Bush-era CIA have been made public by former detainees and rights organizations in the years since the program ended. They include beatings, makeshift electric chairs, hanging detainees from ceilings by the wrists for days at a time, holding drills to detainees' heads and threatening their families with rape, as well as various forms of water torture.

Trump campaigned on a promise to bring back waterboarding. "I like [waterboarding] a lot," he told a cheering crowd in June. "I don't think it's tough enough."
Last month, a federal judge ruled that Rodriguez would be subjected to questioning in an ongoing ACLU lawsuit over the torture regime he directed.
Rodriguez is also infamous for destroying 92 tapes of CIA personnel torturing detainees. "I was just getting rid of some ugly visuals that could put the lives of my people at risk," the torture architect said in defense of the decision, according to his book published in 2012.
The Justice Department declined in 2010 to investigate Rodriguez for destroying the tapes.
Rodriguez expresses pride for his role in the torture program, telling 60 Minutes in a 2012 interview that "we did the right thing for the right reason."
Former detainees--that is, those who survived--continue to suffer from the debilitating psychological effects of severe trauma for years after enduring CIA torture.
President-elect Donald Trump may choose an architect of the George W. Bush administration's torture program, Jose Rodriguez, to head the CIA, The Intercept reported Friday.
The Intercept cites a post-election prediction from Dentons, a law firm where Trump confidante Newt Gingrich (himself a potential secretary of state) serves as an advisor. "Dentons was also retained by Make America Number 1, one of the primary Super PACs supporting Trump's candidacy," the outlet writes.
Rodriguez directed the National Clandestine Service and "helped develop the CIA black sites, secret prisons operated in foreign countries where interrogators used a range of torture tactics, including the use of 'waterboarding,' the simulated drowning technique once used by the Khmer Rouge and Nazi agents to glean information from detainees," The Intercept writes.
The horrific torture techniques used by the Bush-era CIA have been made public by former detainees and rights organizations in the years since the program ended. They include beatings, makeshift electric chairs, hanging detainees from ceilings by the wrists for days at a time, holding drills to detainees' heads and threatening their families with rape, as well as various forms of water torture.

Trump campaigned on a promise to bring back waterboarding. "I like [waterboarding] a lot," he told a cheering crowd in June. "I don't think it's tough enough."
Last month, a federal judge ruled that Rodriguez would be subjected to questioning in an ongoing ACLU lawsuit over the torture regime he directed.
Rodriguez is also infamous for destroying 92 tapes of CIA personnel torturing detainees. "I was just getting rid of some ugly visuals that could put the lives of my people at risk," the torture architect said in defense of the decision, according to his book published in 2012.
The Justice Department declined in 2010 to investigate Rodriguez for destroying the tapes.
Rodriguez expresses pride for his role in the torture program, telling 60 Minutes in a 2012 interview that "we did the right thing for the right reason."
Former detainees--that is, those who survived--continue to suffer from the debilitating psychological effects of severe trauma for years after enduring CIA torture.