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May 10th, 2018 
Awake Goy Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has come out against Gina Haspel, President Trump’s nominee to be CIA director, who is seeking to fill the seat left vacant by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Haspel came under fire in March, after reports in the New York Times and ProPublica reported Haspell’s involvement in the black site, as well as the decision to destroy 92 videotapes of the enhanced interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, a suspected al-Qaeda leader.
Meanwhile, Al Qaeda leader and 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed asked a military judge for permission this week to share “six paragraphs” of testimony about Haspel with the Senate Intelligence Committee. Mohammed was captured in 2003 and waterboarded by the CIA over 180 times, while Haspel ran a “black site” in Thailand in 2002 which employed enhanced interrogation techniques.
While we haven’t seen Mohammed’s six-paragraphs which are supposed to convince Congress to reject Haspel, McCain reasoned she shouldn’t get the job despite being “a patriot who loves our country.”
“Like many Americans, I understand the urgency that drove the decision to resort to so-called enhanced interrogation methods after our country was attacked. I know that those who used enhanced interrogation methods and those who approved them wanted to protect Americans from harm. I appreciate their dilemma and the strain of their duty,” McCain said in a Wednesday statement.
“But as I have argued many times, the methods we employ to keep our nation safe must be as right and just as the values we aspire to live up to and promote in the world.”
McCain, who was tortured as a POW during the Vietnam War, says that while he believes 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 ,” he continued. “I believe the Senate should exercise its duty of advice and consent and reject this nomination.”
McCain joins Congressional Democrats and Mohammed in urging his Senate colleagues to vote against Haspel.
Given Haspel’s time running a black site in Thailand though, Senators were predictably eager to have her define her morality. Haspel didn’t bite.
Asked by Virginia Senator Mark Warner to define her “moral code,” Haspel would only insist that her “moral compass is strong. ” When New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich asked if the torture techniques used by the CIA at black sites were moral, she said that she supports the “stricter moral standard” the U.S. has decided to hold itself to. A sked why her morals didn’t prevent her from carrying out immoral orders during the Bush administration, Haspel essentially said she was just following orders when she ran the black site where Fatima Boudchar was tortured . – NYMag
Haspel refused to answer “yes or no” when asked if torture is immoral.
As acting head of the CIA following Mike Pompeo’s departure to become Secretary of State, Haspel has promised not to create another torture program. On Monday the CIA delivered a set of classified documents to the Senate, describing Haspell’s 33-year career at the agency, “including her time in C.I.A’s Counterterrorism Center in the years after 9/11.” The files are available for every senator to read.
During the hearing, 78-year-old former CIA analyst of 27 years turned anti-war protester, Ray McGovern, was dragged out of the room before being thrown to the ground and tackled by Capitol Police.
Prior to McGovern’s forcible removal, a female protester was escorted out by Capitol Police after shouting “Bloody Gina!” and “you are a torturer!” – the former being a nickname given to Haspel by her colleagues at the CIA according to whistleblower John Kiriakou.
As Vice reports, ” After McGovern was forced out of the room, Haspel continued to answer Reed’s question” about whether Haspel would consider a CIA officer being waterboarded by “terrorists” to be immoral.
“ I don’t believe the terrorists follow any guidelines, or civilized norms, or the law ,” she said, further insisting there was no comparison to be made between CIA agents and terrorists, even if both employed torture.
Source Article from http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blacklistednews/hKxa/~3/4PrQzvQFfgg/mccain-sides-with-democrats-urging-senate-to-reject-haspel-cia.html
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