“As we move forward with the nomination process for Ms. Haspel, my fellow Senators and I must have the complete picture of Ms. Haspel’s involvement in the program in order to fully and fairly review her record and qualifications. I also believe the American people deserve to know the actual role the person nominated to be the director of the CIA played in what I consider to be one of the darkest chapters in American history."
I agree, but she already knows the answers:
Feinstein blocked Haspel’s promotion to lead the CIA’s clandestine operations in 2013 over her involvement in the torture program.
Torturing is the Orange Monster’s favorite thing. It’s better than lying.
“Haspel played a large role in the CIA’s secret torture program. She oversaw the torture of two terror suspects in a secret prison in Thailand in 2002 and helped destroy video of the interrogations.”
This woman is not an American.
She’s a cartoon villain from an Ian Fleming novel.
Who, at the end of the Hollywood version, meets her ironic doom in a saw mill.
Or a trash compactor.
Or a meat-packing plant.
At which point, the audience cheers wildly.
She’s talking to the Rs on the Judiciary Committee who don’t care to know.
If we were a nation of laws, not people, Haspel would have been prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned. But Obama and Holder decided that laws against crimes like torturing people to death should not be prosecuted.
Oh, and if you think that Russia should be sanctioned for assassinating people extrajudicially, just remember that American Presidents, starting with Obama, maintain a “Kill List,” which has included American citizens. America generally uses drones, not poison, and usually only kills brown people in poor countries. I wonder who is on Trump’s Kill List?
Torture, murder, and assassinations. American exceptionalism, indeed.
But more telling …
When Haspel was first nominated to lead the CIA earlier this week, Feinstein praised Haspel’s work as deputy director but said she had not yet decided whether she would support Haspel’s confirmation. [emphasis mine]
Haspel shouldn’t be anywhere near Foggy Bottom. She should be serving a life sentence in a federal prison for war crimes.
I truly believe DiFi is so jaded she would praise Joseph Mengele for his unique approach to medical research but say she hasn’t decided whether to back his nomination for Surgeon General.
She’s awful. Has been for decades.
For the good of the country and the rule of law (domestic and international) we need full disclosure, hearings and prosecutions. It was clear then and now that the Bush Administration intentionally circumvented US and international law to find a legally justifiable way to torture and hid it from the American public. That’s unacceptable. Haspel needs to decline the nomination and resign. She can get immunity if she testifies fully and truthfully.
What’s the over/under on the withdrawal of this nominee?
Ouch.
Is there anything he doesn’t blame on Obama, I wonder?
When Haspel was first nominated to lead the CIA earlier this week, Feinstein praised Haspel’s work as deputy director but… was reminded she faced a significant primary challenger on June 5th.
Here’s most everything anybody needs to know about “Bloody Gina.” She is a one-woman horror story.
Well, there is an actual law against torture that someone could have enforced.
18 U.S. Code § 2340A - Torture
(a) Offense. — Whoever outside the United States commits or attempts to commit torture shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both, and if death results to any person from conduct prohibited by this subsection, shall be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life.
[…]
(c) Conspiracy. — A person who conspires to commit an offense under this section shall be subject to the same penalties (other than the penalty of death) as the penalties prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the conspiracy.
Should this law have been enforced?
For stating facts?
Oh, right. Now is the time “we must look forward, not backward.”
There really isn’t. It’s a weird (or sick!) delusion/obsession; I don’t know how such myopic people function in daily life.
I like.
Actually, “myopic” is perhaps the best excuse for the failure to prosecute Haspel and her ilk.
“Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on Thursday morning called on the CIA to release documents related to CIA director nominee Gina Haspel’s involvement in the agency’s torture program.”
All of them that weren’t destroyed, at least.