Browsed by
Tag: cia

McCain on Haspel

McCain on Haspel

Comments 1 comment

John McCain’s statement after the Senate confirmation hearing for Gina Haspel as director of the Central Intelligence Agency:

“I believe Gina Haspel is a patriot who loves our country and has devoted her professional life to its service and defense. However, Ms. Haspel’s role in overseeing the use of torture by Americans is disturbing. Her refusal to acknowledge torture’s immorality is disqualifying. I believe the Senate should exercise its duty of advice and consent and reject this nomination.”

Following orders

Following orders

Comments 0 Comment

From the Boston Globe:

There’s nothing in the very little that’s publicly known about Gina Haspel, the career spy nominated to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, that suggests even a whiff of insubordination. And therein lies a problem.

Therein lies the problem …

Disavowing torture

Disavowing torture

Comments 1 comment

Fifty Virginia lawmakers and religious leaders sent a letter today to Senators Warner and Kaine, urging them to oppose the nomination of Gina Haspel as director of the CIA, because, given her history, approval of her nomination would amount to a tacit endorsement of torture as a legitimate interrogation tool. Here is the letter:

Dear Senators Warner and Kaine:

We, the undersigned Virginia elected officials and leaders from the progressive and faith communities are deeply opposed to the confirmation of Gina Haspel as the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Ms. Haspel is credibly reported to have played a prominent role in President George W. Bush’s covert torture program. In addition to Ms. Haspel’s intimate involvement with the torture program, she is credibly reported to have been deeply complicit in the destruction of videotapes recording the horrors the program produced.

Ms. Haspel’s defenders excuse her participation in torture by arguing that she was simply “following orders.” Not only is that excuse insufficient on its face, but it is also deeply disquieting given the administration Ms. Haspel is being nominated to join—led by a President who has openly endorsed torture. One can scarcely imagine the range of dangerous orders the next CIA director could be given, especially in the aftermath of a crisis. Why wouldn’t we expect her dutifully to follow those orders as well?

Ms. Haspel is being considered for a promotion, to lead and represent publicly one of the most powerful (and secretive) agencies in our government. At minimum, her participation in this disgraceful program, which was one of the darkest chapters in our country’s history, should disqualify her from that privilege. Endorsing Ms. Haspel would reward torture, and send a disastrous message the world over—including to survivors of torture—that there is no accountability whatsoever for those who commit these grave human rights violations.

Put simply, this vote will be seen as a referendum on torture. We strongly urge you to vote No on the confirmation of Gina Haspel.

It matters

It matters

Comments 0 Comment

A large number of advocacy groups are joining forces to oppose the nomination of Gina Haspel to become director of the Central Intelligence Agency, including two groups which I support: the National Religious Campaign Against Torture and the Center for Victims of Torture. Read more at the Daily Beast:

There were no legal consequences when Gina Haspel oversaw the torture of two men at a secret CIA prison in Thailand 16 years ago. There were no legal consequences 13 years ago when Haspel aided in the destruction of 92 videotapes showing Abu Zubaydah and Abdul Rahim Nashiri’s torture. But now that Haspel is two Senate votes away from running the CIA, a coalition of civil liberties groups is gearing up to ensure that she will at least face political consequences.

This morning, I listened to an interview on NPR with John Rizzo, a lawyer with the CIA during the time of Haspel’s involvement with CIA “black sites.” It was appalling to hear him refuse to label waterboarding, simulated executions, and other interrogation techniques involving extreme physical and emotional abuse as torture and to excuse such measures because of historical context.

Context never changes what is right and wrong. Otherwise, right is merely what is expedient and wrong what is merely inconvenient. Torture is never right and to excuse it is inexcusable. As a nation based on the rule of law and defense of certain inalienable human rights, we are better than that. We must be better than that.

To let this nomination proceed unchallenged is to betray the values for which we claim to stand.

is anybody else bothered by this?

is anybody else bothered by this?

Comments 2 comments

Is anybody else bothered by this?

In the predawn hours of Jan. 29, a CIA Predator aircraft flew in a slow arc above the Pakistani town of Mir Ali. The drone’s operator, relying on information secretly passed to the CIA by local informants, clicked a computer mouse and sent the first of two Hellfire missiles hurtling toward a cluster of mud-brick buildings a few miles from the town center.

The article in today’s Washington Post goes on to report that the missiles succeeded in killing a top Al Qaeda operative, Abu Laith al-Libi. So … success?

The strike force relied on local informants to target these particular houses. (Who else was in the houses? What if the informants were mistaken or lying?) And the strike was carried out without prior permission or notification of the Pakistani government … because they might say, “No”; because the delay could jeopardize the success of the operation. (Doesn’t the Pakistani government have a right to say, “No”? Would we tolerate a foreign government carrying out unilateral military actions on our soil … regardless of the justification?)

Is anybody else bothered by this?