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Haspel: Trump selects a torturer to head the CIA

I would bet that Haspel will say she just drafted the cable ordering the destruction of the tapes, on orders from her superior, Rodriguez.

Which is probably true.

Maybe that would get Rodriguez to comment? I think he will still testify if he gets immunity?
 
LTC8K6 said:
ProPublica correction: Gina Haspel was not in charge during the waterboarding of Abu Zubaydah

https://hotair.com/archives/2018/03...spel-not-involved-waterboarding-abu-zubaydah/

Apparently Haspel did not arrive at the base until shortly before the accused USS Cole bomber Nashiri was waterboarded three times, and after Zubaydah was waterboarded. So she was not connected with Zubaydah's extensive waterboarding.
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That makes it better? She only oversaw one waterboarding and not two? As to Abu Zubaydah's waterboarding, she still had a role in the coverup. Per the ProPublica's retraction:
The February 2017 ProPublica story did accurately report that Haspel later rose to a senior position at CIA headquarters, where she pushed her bosses to destroy the tapes of Zubaydah’s waterboarding. Her direct boss, the head of the agency’s Counterterrorism Center, ultimately signed the order to feed the 92 tapes into a shredder.
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As to whose fault the erroneous reporting is, I would lay the blame squarely on the CIA, even though ProPublica apologized. They asked the CIA for comments and they only got a vague "nearly every piece of reporting that you are seeking comment on is incorrect in whole or in part", even though it was drawn on declassified information and there had also been an extensive Senate report in 2014 on the whole torture thing.
 
LTC8K6 said:
I would bet that Haspel will say she just drafted the cable ordering the destruction of the tapes, on orders from her superior, Rodriguez.

Which is probably true.
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Not according to the ProPublica correction I cited before.

LTC8K6 said:
Maybe that would get Rodriguez to comment? I think he will still testify if he gets immunity?
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If the "immunity" also involves a subsequent extraordinary rendition flight to The Hague, I'm fine with it.

The only way the US washes this torture episode off is if everyone involved is effectively prosecuted and ends up in Club Fed or in Scheveningen prison, preferably for the rest of their lives.
 
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ddt said:
It's known as the Nuremberg defence.

Don't her supporters find it embarrassing if every aspect evokes an analogy with Nazis?
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LOL. Your own source debunks the "Nuremberg defence" analogy.

But to answer your question: No, I don't find it embarrassing. I remember the "Bushitler" years. Maybe if the left weren't making knee-jerk Nazi comparisons to everything on the right, all the time, for decades...

All the Nazi analogy really does is signal that the time for reasoned debate is over. There's a lot that could be argued for and against the propriety of this nomination, but you've already taken the discussion all the way to "Nazis!", so there's really no point in continuing, is there?
 
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Interesting (and for partisans sobering) read: As Trump Moves Toward War, “The Resistance” Refuses to Resist

About "Bloody Gina" and the reactions from some "Democrat" big-wigs to her nomination. Also contains a video of a statement Rand Paul made, apparently indeed "dissenting". And a theory by Jeremy Scahill that Trump indeed nominated her because he counts on not getting through with it - and then afterwards wants to sneak in his real favorite, Tom Cotton. Who is a total freak as well. Like most of the creatures running around in DC.
 
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The guy who went to prison for revealing CIA torture says -- what a surprise! -- that she should not be confirmed.
The CIA will not let me repeat her résumé or the widely reported specifics of how her work fit into the agency’s torture program, calling such details “currently and properly classified.” But I can say that Haspel was a protege of and chief of staff for Jose Rodriguez, the CIA’s notorious former deputy director for operations and former director of the Counterterrorism Center. And that Rodriguez eventually assigned Haspel to order the destruction of videotaped evidence of the torture of Abu Zubaida.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/outl...517e912f125_story.html?utm_term=.78a432accb2a
 
Childlike Empress said:
That's one of the most disgusting things about the torture program: The only person who went to prison for it is the whistleblower John Kiriakou.
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A most rare point of agreement I find myself with you on, CE.

As a nation supposedly based on the rule of law, said law selectively applied is shamefully disgusting. My sense of justice is most offended when the big fish are protected. To me the law should be utterly blind to position, influence, wealth and power; all are to be treated equally.
 
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