Al Qaeda interrogator on CIA black sites: Reopening them is ‘a known path to disaster’

The Trump administration has drafted an executive order to reopen the secret detention and interrogation facilities known as “black sites” used for years by the Central Intelligence Agency to detain suspected enemy combatants around the world.

Some former CIA officers and officials are wary of the plan, however.

The order would revoke President Obama’s 2009 executive order to close the secret prisons for good, and reinstate the executive order signed by George W. Bush that permitted the CIA to move forward with “a program of detention and interrogation” as long as it complied with Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.

“Our nation remains engaged in a global armed conflict with ISIS, al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and other associated international Islamist groups,” the draft order states. The word “Islamist” has replaced the word “jihadist,” which is stricken throughout the draft.

The draft, which White House press secretary Sean Spicer said had not yet crossed Trump’s desk, also crosses out “global war on terrorism” and replaces it with “fight against radical Islam.” The language change is an apparent dig at President Obama’s refusal to decisively associate Islam with terrorism.

Read the whole story from Business Insider.

Featured image courtesy of Reuters.