Don't torture people is a hard lesson? Where did she grow up where she didn't learn that torture, particularly to coerce people to tell you what you want or to do what you demand, is wrong? Given she only learned that lesson 10 odd years ago proves she's not fit to hold any public office in this country.
1
Of course Haspel will follow trump's order to torture. Does trump's belief in the effectiveness of torture and waterboarding qualify him for the Nobel Peace Prize? Certainly Israel's massacre of Palestinians after moving the embassy to Jerusalem without a plan should also qualify trump for this prize he so desires, don't you agree?
1
We have indeed reached the bottom of the barrel if Gina Haspel is all that is available to be in charge of the CIA. She tortured, and Trump wants to torture people, so she's a logical choice for this misfit president. His enablers in congress, of course, well bend over backwards to appease this strutting, preening peacock. Potentate Trump continues to destroy and lie his way into history.
2
Neither the benefit of hindsight nor her experience as a senior agency leader should have been necessary for Ms. Haspel's belated revelation. Lincoln said: "If slavery is not wrong then nothing is wrong." This is surely equally true of torture. Now that the President is a sociopath for whom nothing IS wrong, literally, it is more critical than ever that this position be filled by someone who does not require such tortured reasoning to understand this fundamental truth.
2
On Gina Haspel and torture.
In an earlier comment to an article that criticized her, I wrote that she looked friendlier than Colonel Rosa Klebb, of KGB and SMERSH, in James Bond. But the most recently published photographs present a more Klebbian image -- as much as one can trust photos.
1
Haspel “the recanter” she will be known as hereafter. Whoever her nomination advisor is has lost their way. Hopefully, Haspel will be lost in the shuffle. The idea of finding a “clean agency leader” is not something that we can count on in the age of dirty nominees common to Trump’s associations. Trump’s picks are always tainted just by being selected by our most corrupted President in recent history.
1
Can death row inmates simply submit Haspel's statement to their prison wardens for immediate release? I mean, after putting *their* signatures on it.
Or should they write their own repudiations?
"Yeah, I brutally murdered those fifteen, not twelve, families, but I repudiate those methods now. I'm reformed! Over the course of my incarceration, I have learned some hard lessons here in prison. It was a real education. Who knew that carving "GOP" into those people would be seen as anything but patriotic?
"While I cannot condemn the voices that told me to commit those acts of brutality, for they really did cleanse the world of an evil scourge that polluted the Earth and all those that live on it, I can see in hindsight that there might have been other ways to succeed in our ultimate goals."
Are we better now?
How about Ms. Haspel saying that simply she won’t break the law? And international human rights laws?
We know all about her her morals: she was in charge of water boarding, probably tortured prisoners herself and then ordered that all the evidence be destroyed.
Her morals, I must say, are more than questionable. We executed the Japanese for performing the same enhanced interrogation techniques. Nazis were executed for following orders. At the very least: lock her up!
1
Define torture!
Cutting off a limb? Torture. Poking out an eye? Torture. But waterboarding which the 9/11 terrorist conspirator Khalid Sheik Mohamed endured 183 times and came out of it ok, is that torture? I think not. It's more like non-gentle persuasion.
1
Too little, too late. I don't believe her, and think she should be prosecuted for breaking US law. Senator Mark Warner should be ashamed of himself. ANY "Democrat" who votes for Haspel should be ashamed. She is obviously a nut case, as well as a criminal.
3
I strongly doubt her sincerity as she could have said it during the committee meeting but didn't. This was forced and scripted. She should declassify the entire Durham investigative report.
2
About as sincere as Trump’s forced, delayed and reluctant disavowal of white supremacists and neo-Nazis during his campaign. Something reeks.
6
Am I the only one who remembers Ben Carson's confirmation hearings, when Elizabeth Warren abandoned her position and announced she'd be voting for him due to a private letter in which he assured her he would not work to dismantle the HUD programs that serve low-income Americans?
Now he's come out swinging with work requirements and rent hikes for the poorest households on those programs, including the elderly and disabled.
Have we learned nothing? Our Democratic leaders seem bizarrely content to play Pontius Pilate, washing their hands of the outcome rather than rising to the occasion. I am hardly a radical leftist, but I'm rapidly losing faith in my party.
11
If any of my Connecticut congress members vote for Haspel, I will definitely vote against him or her the next time around! She is a war criminal as defined by the Geneva Convention, and admits that she destroyed evidence of her crimes! How can we even be at this juncture, considering her for this position instead of prison?
Torturing a prisoner is the lowest form of human behavior that there is. I learned this at the knee of my father, who served as a US Naval Captain during and after WWII. I am glad he is not alive to see how debased we have become.
10
Time to move on. While Haspel's background with the torture program is clearly not the CIA's finest moment, the alternatives available to head the CIA are undoubtedly worse, given Donald Trump's history of picking "the finest people" to serve in his administration.Comparisons to the Nazi and Communist death camps is overwrought. I think this is more comparable to the internment of Japanese citizens during World War 2. It was wrong, it accomplished nothing and it soiled our reputation as a nation. We will need to make amends for the torture of prisoners, just as we did for the Japanese, and will be the better for it. Haspel is going to be confirmed; let's make sure she lives up to her promises.
LOVE IT!
An experienced, highly qualified professional who won't permit torture and who follows instructions to torture if told that torture is legal.
THE PERFECT MORAL AND ETHICAL WORK-AROUND.
You GO Gina!
Because torture is GOOD for 'Merica...when it's legal.
1
I presume that Ms. Haspel is now willing support posthumous pardons, and compensation to the families, for those Japanese officers who were hanged after World War II for "acts" (apparently they weren't crimes) effectively no different from those of her own operatives.
While Ms Haspel may be eminently qualified, and now proclaims that in hindsight torture is not the desired route to elicit information, it would send a terrible message to the rest of the world should she be in charge of our intelligence operations. We need allies worldwide to combat the issues that globalization faces, and this is not the way to go. We never prosecuted those responsible for allowing this shameful era in our history, and while I am not suggesting that she alone is responsible, or that we should revisit and try to impose punishment on those that are, having her confirmed would send a wrong message. We have enough problems created by this administration nationally and internationally, and should not compound them by undermining the effectiveness of the CIA.
1
Nuremberg revisited? Would Ms. Haspel be proven innocent then and now by the ICC for her torture crimes?
The ICC, active since 2002 and the permanent court of crimes against humanity and successor of the Nuremberg trials, is supported by 123 nations as signatories. The U.S., by the way...is one of four countries along with Russia, Sudan, and Israel that refuse to support the treaty or be held responsible to its statutes.
Ms. Haspel should not only not be confirmed, but all members of the George W. Bush administration who were responsible for "going to the dark side" be condemned for their role in our torture and rendition program. Is this what Mr. Warner and others are trying to avoid as a precedent?
1
Senators Warner, Heitkamp, Nelson, Manchin, and Donnelly will support a war criminal to become head of the CIA. So much for the Democratic "Resistance." At least Gina Haspel's confirmation will clarify just what the true nature of the CIA really is: the thuggish enforcer of US imperialism. Torture, black sites, drone assassinations, anti-democratic coups. Empires collapse, slowly at first, then all at once.
7
The Senate Intelligence Committee would add another disgraceful blot to its already tainted record by approving nomination of Gina Haspel to head the CIA. I strongly suggest members of the committee take a few minute off their coffee breaks to have a look at what went on in Nuremberg Trials.
More than half of those who planned, carried out, or otherwise participated in the Holocaust and other war crimes would have gone free if Nuremberg prosecutors had accepted what Gina Haspel is offering in her own defense, which is "at the time it was not illegal and/or I was ordered to do it by my superiors".
7
Torture doesn’t work. Unless you want to advance your career.
2
Torture is Ok. Confessions obtained using torture are admissible in court ... in Israel against the Palestinians according to Jimmy Carter, the last American president interested in true Middle East peace , not the Trump/Bolton alternate version of peace.
I would like to state first off that I am disgusted by the CIA's abuse and torture of captives and I believe 100% that Gina Haspel was an enthusiastic participant. However, I am enjoying the liberal dilemma that must be going on over her nomination.... A woman, YAY! Oh, but she's not OUR KIND of woman....
So why the turn-about? She simply wants in, to an administration that is filled with deception and lies - I'm sure it will suit her well. She may denounce, but she's not to be trusted
3
To those who have said (pathetically) that she was just following orders, what, then, is the plan for those who gave the orders?
7
"I was only following orders" was not a successful defense at the post-World War II trials at Nuremberg.
Just sayin'.
2
If we are going to rewrite or repeat history (i.e. authorize, accept and torture), then another question comes to mind:
How soon before Americans are tortured for useless "information"?
Germany had no issues with it and we seem to be following the same path so nothing is really in place to stop them. If we can somehow justify the unjustifiable then anything is possible. The CIA has already been shown to spy on us, which was strictly forbidden until that became inconvenient. What is next after torture?
2
How does saying you won't do it again forgive what you have done. And if that is true then let's go into our prisons and ask the guilty and innocent people we keep there if they will promise not to do it again.
1
Republicans obstruct all nominees for all positions all the time. Consider Obama's Supreme Court nomination of Garland. Democrats like to play fair and give nominees the benefit of the doubt. Haspel will say whatever she needs to say to get confirmed and then do whatever she wants to do. Democrats need to try a page out of the Republican playbook. Obstruct everything.
3
America's first woman secretary of Homeland security in the Trump cabinet and if confirmed the first woman CIA chief. Women's march in the white house cabinet is impressive. Both these women have dedicated their lives in government service and are profiles in courage and credibility for their experience and distinguished service. They have broken the glass ceiling on merit and not for token appointment sake. They have proved that they can do a job held exclusively by men. I agree with Charlie Savage that Gina Haspel is likely to be confirmed because she deserves to be confirmed as recognized by Senator Mark Warner.
1
Why is this a problem? First let's imagine a former torture advocate leading the CIA. Now imagine what happens when we criticize Putin or Assad. And now look ahead to a Putin lieutenant saying sure we assassinated a few "folks" but in my new position I repudiate these actions. It's easy to understand Trump's interest here. Springtime for Strongmen.
1
Watching Haspel's performance in the Senate hearing, I wondered why she appeared so reluctant to reject torture, except to say that the CIA would not be doing it again. Then, I remembered Trump's praise of Haspel as someone who had used torture and claimed, falsely, that it had been very effective.
Was Haspel fearful that Trump would retract her nomination if she apologized for her employment of torture? Her weak criticism of it was just to say that the CIA had not been staffed to conduct interrogations, implying perhaps that the agency could have used torture more effectively had they had more professional interrogators.
2
She is a highly qualified, low character individual. It all comes down to what is considered to be of more importance.
I would likely hold my nose and vote to confirm.
Same story line. Democrats are never a unit. They're just a bunch of wannabe with no goals, destiny or main purpose. Contrary to Republicans who blocked judge Garland from even a sit down with them.
2
So that's all it takes? A letter telling people what they want to hear but what you know you don't believe? This group of democrat's is so easy. Don't you believe her. peace and coexist.
1
Democrats are going to cave again?!
Torture is illegal in the United States. It is illegal in international law. It is against the military code of conduct. It is barbaric and immoral. And experienced interrogators who get results say that making friends with the subject of investigations is far more effective.
Just because John Yoo, as Whitehouse legal counsel expressed the opinion that the president can do whatever he wants, does not make it true.
Brendan says that Haspel would stand up to illegal orders from Trump, but when she got illegal orders before she obeyed them.
And not only did she obey them to administer a torture program, she covered up the evidence by having the tapes erased, even though she knew Congress wanted the tapes for their investigation.
When the United States government breaks its own laws and international law, it sends a signal to the rest of the world that laws don't matter, and that ends justify the means. In real life the means become the ends. Once you start making exceptions to law and morality based on fear, you end up with presidents like Trump, who attack both even more.
Obama should have insisted that the justice department prosecute everyone involved in the torture program from the top down. Obama's failure to enforce the law (as he also did with fraud committing bankers) led to this appointment.
Now Democrats will roll over again and give Trump a known torturer and evidence destroyer to head an agency with a history of abuses.
4
But did she say we won’t contract with other countries to do this for us?
2
Might as well bring Cheney, Addington, and Rummy back. A pox on all congress houses. Disgusting.
9
Her boss never says he's sorry, so he is seething now over this display of weakness.
Do you want to see a democratic politician ramble in incoherent gibberish? Ask them why the voted to confirm John Brennan, a man who was a senior architect of the torture program; but the won't vote for Ms. Haspel, who was a relatively junior official without significant policy making authority at the same time.
1
So, after seven decades, thousands of hours on investigation and testimony, we still have proof positive that the Nuremberg defense continues to play pretty well when rationalizing one's behavior.
"I was only following orders ..."
Not the My Lai massacre, not any of the dumping of liquid toxic wastes materials into open pits under cover of darkness, not the known uses of known carcinogens or mutagens in the manufacture of containers for foods or liquids meant for human consumption, and not even engineering decisions to change fatal product designs because of small profit tradeoff motivations. Thousands of incidents, all justified by those five little words.
"I was only following orders ..."
Gosh, I wonder if it's time we change from a emphasis on the STEM curriculum to a new one, MSTEM. Let's put Morality at the start of the acronym, and perhaps create more emphasis on doing the right thing first. Generations of human behavior have illustrated we're just not there yet.
Sorry to say, but Ms. Haspel is nothing more than one more individual example of the bad behavior. She just happens to be a member of a slightly more recent generation, called on the carpet to explain her actions.
I, for one, was not convinced.
6
Donald Trump really is the best dealmaker.
Democrats keep agreeing to whatever he wants.
11
"With the benefit of hindsight and my experience as a senior Agency leader,the enhanced interrogation program is not one the CIA should have undertaken."
Our education system has failed you, Gina. Who taught you to write sentences like this?
2
She should be in prison. Another nail in the coffin of America as a model or example for anyone.
4
There must be a dozen perfectly suitable candidates for CIA chief. I’m sure someone just as malicious and mean as Gina could qualify, so why on earth did they choose Haspel who has more baggage then a traveling circus ?
1
I'm not sure she is completely guilty of torture but neither is she innocent. The "I was only following orders" defense was not allowed at Nuremberg and the guilty were executed.
3
Democrats are truly pathetic. You expect it from Joe Manchin, but Mark Warner's support for this nominee is a sign that Democrats are on their way out. This is Chuck Schumer's fault. A lousy leader for these times who hasn't been seen in weeks. Oh, wait, he's said nice things about McCain and Harry Reid, who just had some surgery. But other than that? Where is the condemnation of this nominee? Where is the condemnation of the silence of McConnell on Trump corruption? Where are the cries of hypocrisy? Democrats are weak and this is a reminder that we need new ones who aren't.
4
Here's the sad part: A huge number of Americans, knowing full-well that the Iraq war was based on lies, deception and intimidation actually condoned (and probably still do) torture. News outlets wouldn't even print the word because no one wanted to admit that torture was going on. And now this.
3
There isn‘t a single qualified candidate to run the C.I.A that doesn‘t have Torture (and the destruction of evidence thereof) on their resumé?
4
Putting a torturer in charge of the CIA should be the last piece of information that civilized countries need in order to decide how to deal with the festering boil that the US has become. I wonder how many tapes Cheney has, and what he does to enhance his experience as he watches them - with "Jerry" in hand, perhaps? My point being, some people get off on watching other people being tortured. And unfortunately enough American voters enjoy thinking that we have, and will continue to, subject people to barbaric treatment.
1
I like her and think she's the right person. Better than some crusading moralist who doesn't know anything about the Agency but holds the *correct* political views.
1
Bingo. We’re not looking for a new Director for the Boy Scouts (my mistake, just Scouts).
1
Torturers are walking among us, unafraid to show their faces. I used to think that only happened in South America.
3
If Gina Haspel is confirmed, Congress will have implicitly sanctioned torture as US policy and abandoned morality as a guiding principle.
Given the declared eagerness of the President to use torture, the outcome is inevitable.
Shameful!
4
Any Democrat who votes to confirm the appointment of Haspel to run the CIA should be voted out of office at the earliest opportunity as being complicit and condoning torture.
6
Well, at least she'll eventually do the right thing.
Or,
She'll express the correct words to obtain the position she desires.
6
Regarding torture: Fool me once, shame on me; fool me twice shame on you.
...Don't let it happen twice.
2
I bet the spirit of Ronald Reagan, as well as many others, are wondering whatever happened to that "shining light on a hill"...........
1
She is now REALLY sorry with the benefit of “hindsight.” Hindsight being the optic there were not enough votes behind her.
4
How convenient for the Democrats supporting Haspel that this confirmation vote occurs after the primaries.
1
I don't shed any tears for the terrorists this woman has allowed these tactics on.....
I reserve them for my fellow countrymen and soldiers who have given their lives.
Snowflakes are not going to like that position I suspect.
Let’s be honest, you shouldn’t need “the benefit of hindsight” to conclude that torture is wrong.
Proof positive that women can be as horrid as men when career moves are at stake.
3
American Exceptionalism...
In the newly Great Again America can a war criminal be put in charge after writing a letter for a mea culpa.
In true American spirit, we outsourced our torture and had secret prisons in far away lands. Shred the evidence of the torture.
We stand for absolutely nothing.
2
The completely corrupt and war crimes complicit Democratic Party establishment needs to be retired ASAP.
They knew about everything and even helped cover it up. Many like Hoyer, Pelosi, Schumer and Feinstein should be in cells alongside Bush, Cheney, Obama, all their AGs, all their intelligence/CIA/FBI directors and all the actual torturers like Rodriguez and Haspel.
The one thing that Madeline Albright, Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Susan Power, Nikki Haley, Victoria Nuland and others have proven is that women can be as evil as men. The Gender gap has been closed.
The mantra of neoliberal Democrats for the 2018 midterms: "Hire more FEMALE torturers! I'm with her!"
The fact that a known torturer is even being considered for a high government post, instead of prison time, is another one of the Barry the Nobel Drone King's legacies.
He and the worthless Democrats in Congress had two years in control to roll back the worst of Bush's excesses, but all that happened was that they were extended.
Obama's only association with change or hope was via his cynically composed slogan.
Spying on Americans, drone-bombing distant nations, siding with Wall Street over Main Street, starting the "modernization" of the American nuclear arsenal at the end of his term, "looking forward" rather than prosecute felons who break an international treaty against torture, etc. etc.
Thanks, Obama. Your worst ideas are being heartily embraced and expanded by the Orange Menace, your true legacy.
4
haspel will go on to, secretly, torture people again. She will learn how to hide it more effectively and has not accounted for her horrible behaviour in the past. Just like all of trump's pick 'they' go on to be the most corrupt administration in history. trump promised torture was good in his campaign for president.
McCain said not to hire her and he knows what torture did to him. The GOP continues to support anything trump wants and turn a blind eye to the realities of the disastrous situations that are happening in the US & the world.
5
Good news, she's a sting woman who knows how to get the job done and make difficult decisions.
She has a spine!
If she had a spine she would not be hiding what she did, she would be defending it worth the evidence she has the ability to declassify.
American power rests as much on it's morality as it's military. This proposed appointment damages the US and is unfortunately so typical of this miserable administration. If shooting oneself in the foot was a sport, Trump would be an olympic champion.
Most of his eggs right now are in a basket in Singapore. He may come home with no deal or Kim may not show. Still no matter how howling is the wind and rain, he can always tell his base it's a sunny day. Hard to swallow if the Kim's awfull regime keeps its nukes.
1
Competent and experienced. Other than simply to obstruct, why wouldn’t she be confirmed
2
Gina Torquemada is in. WASP's hypocrisy will be once again vindicated as one of main tenets of US foreign policy. Didn't the commander in-chief- himself advocated torture when campaigning?
The same guys who chastise and lecture on human rights the likes of Kim, the Chinese, the Ayatollahs, Venezuela's Maduro and, of course the Castros of Cuba but never Israel should be jubilant about a bona fide member of Dick & W's Global Network of Torture being sworn.
2
She condoned torture. Morally reprehensible savages torture. She is unfit of any office representing America.
4
So how many of Trump appointees lied during their confirmation hearings? Mulvaney, Zinke, DeVos to name three. Why would Haspel be any different. She was chosen, in part, because she is a liar by disposition.
4
Everything about this government is broken. Officials pretend the guy in the WHITE House is sane while continuing their history of lying to us all. We are and always have been looked upon as sheep, this is clearly this case today as the guy in the WHITE House has uttered thousands of lies this year. As this historic level of lying is normalized Mother Nature is preparing for her last at bat. Man's insignificance can not be overstated here as selective-ignorance rules the land. Life is apparently insane.
2
Like Navy Seal training, perhaps Ms. Haspel should be personally introduced to waterboarding. As ex-Seal Jesse Ventura said in 2009 about Dick Cheney's defense of torture,"I’ll put it to you this way, you give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I’ll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders."
4
Of course she'll be confirmed. This country's political moral compass, not working too well already, got lost on November 8, 2016.
The fact is, not enough Americans, as reflected by our representatives in Congress and our pro-torture President, object to having a person in charge of the CIA who was right in the thick of the CIA's torture program, running a prison in Thailand where prisoners were tortured, or that she destroyed videotaped evidence of "interrogation sessions" in 2005. Many think it would be a feature, not a bug.
Ms. Haspel said just enough regarding understanding the bad optics of the CIA engaging in torture to allow wavering Senators to tell themselves that she wouldn't do it or something similarly immoral, illegal, and ineffective again, salving their consciences as they vote not to upset their Trump-supporting constituents or Trump, himself.
Of course she'll be confirmed. It'll be just another day in Trumpworld.
13
And Trumpworld is made possible by a Democratic Party that refuses to actual oppose the Republicans.
4
Moral compass? This is the CIA. The entire basis of the organization is the covert subversion of moral acts to protect the Country.
Perhaps we should get rid of our Military, too. I hear they are very mean to people overseas and they are certainly not moral.
1
After the horrific blasphemy of 9/11, with the concomitant loss of almost 3000 lives, in a most heinous way, I am grateful to have Gina Haspel as the new CIA Director. Our way of life was in imminent danger after 9/11 and I support the tools we used in its aftermath to bring the perpetrators to justice and to prevent another attack. Never forget.
7
Never forget? You've already forgotten everything we learned in WW II. Our way of life is not in danger. We ourselves have totally trashed it.
11
How would you like it if you were mistakenly rounded up and tortured.
As an aside, what evidence do you have that torture of even the guilty prevented further attacks.
There is evidence it mobilized recruits for ISIS and others who would hurt us.
9
Funny how our way of life is threatened by 3000 dead in a terror attack, but not the 11,000 dead each year due to preventable gun violence. Should we be torturing Americans then to keep us safe?
1
Seventy years ago American jurists established what is now a cornerstone of international law. They are called the Nuremberg Principles. They hold that international human rights law supersedes domestic laws and rulings that may run counter to these principles.
We must remember that much of what was done in Nazi Germany was legal under German law. More importantly, an individual can be held accountable for human rights violations even if they were "only following orders."
That is unless you are Gina Haspel. Ms. Haspel acted under the cover of the John Loo memorandum which argued that torture or extreme interrogation methods as they were called was legal.
It was not legal and this certainly wasn't the first time that a powerful client instructed their lawyer to interpret the law to justify what they already intended to do.
The lawyers for the CIA knew they were wrong and Ms. Haspel knew what she was doing was illegal. If that weren't enough, Ms. Hapel also supervised or authorized, we're not sure which, the destruction of the torture tapes.
This is clearly obstruction of justice, a criminal offense independent of her human rights violations. So not only is Congress dismissing international human rights law, they are ignoring her deliberate attempt to hide incriminating evidence.
One could say "what else would you expect from this administration?" But Ms. Haspel will get a number of Democratic votes. So, this is what we can expect from them as well?
16
I know what Warner can expect from my cohort here in Virginia: to be primaried and voted out in 2020.
3
Some here compare the goal based methods used by the CIA to the torture used by the Nazi's for pure punishment and sick pleasure of the Nazis. Nazi mass genocide was a horrible atrocity, targeting millions based on their genetics, religious beliefs or sexual orientation.
Meanwhile, a few dozen deemed to be severe threats to our nation, were subject to physical pressures. This was at a time when we felt we had an existential threat; for those in NY, many of us lost loved ones, and we were shaken to the core. Perhaps the CIA understood that we didn't know what attacks would come next, and with hand wringing did what was need to attempt to get information. The results speak for themselves.
To compare this to Nazi atrocities is beyond absurd and shows lack of understanding, thought, and moral compass.
Thank goodness for those protecting us in so many ways. Difficult jobs, they deserve our gratitude even as they sometimes act imperfectly.
7
I am not happy that Gina Haspel will head the CIA. But for all those who compare her to Eichmann (!) and Beria (!) - get a grip. Eichmann killed 6 million people. Beria oversaw the most extensive network of concentration camps humanity has ever seen. Ms. Haspell waterboarded some terrorists. If you really believe that the latter is as bad as the former, your moral compass is more broken than hers. And incidentally, I detect more than a whiff of misogyny in this chorus of self-righteousness. Just like Hillary was judged more harshly than a man would be in the same situation, I believe it’s also true about the judgment on Ms. Haspel.
5
Eh, she waterboarded some terrorists. At least we think they were terrorists. She says so, and who would doubt Gina the Waterboarder? And we guess it was just a few. Do you support the death penatly? If so, for one murder, or for fifty or more, or where is that line exactly?
4
How many countries have been ruined by the CIA?
Shut it down. It serves absolutely no useful purpose.
4
All those who torture will provide some sort of immoral rationale
reflecting revenge, self interest, or dehumanization of the victims.
State terror is also justfied in the same terms. When the U.S.
incinerated the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki it
was defended as “saving lives”. Whose lives?
Monsters always employ a sick moral calculus.
Haspel and the imperialist system she serves are monstrous in their hypocrisy and inhumanity.
18
the imperialist system she serves? So you don't support the United Statess of America? Where does you intend to live that has a more righteous people? Hast thou visited Venezuela lately, the home of socialist fervor and starvation?
1
Yes, and Democrats are voting for her.
I will not for Democrats until they rediscover morality. I did not vote for evil, greater or lesser.
1
Hide the shredding machines.
13
"...I have noted the valuable intelligence collected..." as a result of torture.
It's nonsense. Torture doesn't produce reliable, actionable intelligence.
If the CIA had valuable intelligence from torture they would have put it in print and told it to the world by releasing the 6,000 page Committee Report on Torture.
The evidence reveals that FBI interrogator Ali Soufan, using time-tested "rapport-building interrogation," obtained reliable, actionable intelligence. But that wasn't good enough for the torture advocates starting with Dick Cheney.
The CIA torture produced unreliable nonsense that literally sent over half of the FBI's 35,000 employees on global snipe hunts. As an example, dozens of FBI agents spent months looking for nonexistent black Muslim converts in Montana who had ostensibly been recruited locally by a terrorist from India to set forest fires.
When John McCain was severely tortured he deceived his captors with the names of the Green Bay Packers offensive linemen.
Only on fictional TV shows do torture subjects tell the truth.
25
Sorry but you state your opinion and belief as absolute truth, while the party in question has direct knowledge.
2
Haspel is imprisoned by her authorization of torture.
1
Yes, experienced interrogators who get real results say that building a rapport with the subject of an investigation is far more effective.
2
I can only repeat what others have said: what a sad day for America when the torturers are in charge of the Torture Machine.........Shame on us!
27
Thanks again America for showing who you really are and finally ripping off the (thin) veneer where you pretended to be the good guys for a number of decades now.
The rest of the world should (and hopefully will) detangle itself from you and treat you with the respect you deserve. Which is little by now.
20
So we are not the good guys? Perhaps our Cold War enemies are? China, communist Vietnam, Russia all saw government ideology driven genocide under “socialism” for the “greater good”, while human rights disappeared. Iran has no semblance of human rights, no Venezuela nor North Korea.
If you think our imperfect country is not relatively, clearly, the good guys, one should look closely at your moral compass.
2
Here's a really weird possibility. Now listen closely, Joe ... there are no "good guys" except in Westerns and super-hero movies.
Trump and Republicans are destroying the reputation of our country, and Democrats are helping, instead of standing in their way.
Why is it that Democrats kept saying that Republicans wouldn't let Obama do anything, but now they are powerless to stop Trump from doing whatever he wants? That only makes sense if Democrats are spineless doormats afraid to stand up for workers, the law. morality, or even their own political power (oh yeah they gave up a Supreme Court Seat without a fight, even though the Supreme Court is why I'm supposed to vote for the lesser evil).
I will start voting for Democrats as soon as they stop being lesser evil, mini-Republicans, and actually start doing the right thing.
She belongs in prison with the rest of the Bush-Cheney cabal.
20
Yes, and it was Obama's job to put them in prison, but he decided it was more politically expedient to let them get away with torture and starting a war based on lies.
And he also decided it was more politically expedient to get billionaire bankers their bonuses than prosecute them for causing the Great Recession.
And he also decided that instead of asking the American People to rise up and demand that his Supreme Court nominee get a hearing, he would just let McConnell steal the seat.
Centrist Democrats who preach constant retreat, and compromise with the worst elements of or society, are enabling liars, thieves, war criminals, and torturers.
As soon as you get the centrist Democrats out of the Party Leadership, I will think about voting for Democrats again.
Greater Evil doesn't hide. Lesser Evil is insidious.
Was this confirmation ever in doubt? I think a better test of this candidate's qualifications would be to submit her to some of those interrogation tactics she imposed on others... while the Senators watched.
10
Has anyone gotten Gina Haspel to define what, exactly, constitutes torture? My bet is that they will do what they want, call it "enhanced interrogation" once again, or "strategically coerced questioning", or some other semantic variation, and then claim with a straight face that they did not engage in torture.
8
If Ms. Haspel had any moral objection to torture, then she would have resigned rather than oversee torture and then help to cover it up. Even at her confirmation hearing last week, she still refused to call torture immoral. She hasn't suddenly developed a conscience; she simply wrote this letter as political cover for Democrats who wanted to vote for her. Confirming her will send yet another very bad message to the world about what kind of country we are.
20
So true. #americanunexceptionalism
4
Ms Haspel's focus on the US standing in the world and concern for the psychological well being of witnesses to "enhanced interrogation" pales next to her insistence that the methods were effective and also that she was involved in the order to destroy the recordings. Senator Warner and his Democrat colleagues exemplify the weakness of character that caused Democrats losses over the past four years, and gradual failed democracy over the long term to counterract trends set in motion from the end of WW2: exceptionalism.
7
Did anyone think that Congress would waylay this choice after all the bad press?
2
Isn't bad press supposed to make it more difficult to vote for her?
For the love of God, she did not change her position, she only wrote the letter to get into office. She is pro-torture as per her own admission, or lack of. No no no no.
20
Some of her responses remind me of Eichmann.
A very sad day for America....
30
So she'll be rewarded for her atrocities? Sick. She's a disgrace to the U.S. and should be charged. She and her ilk have only made the U.S. less safe, not safer.
28
Torture will commence on her watch. Guaranteed.
20
She’s on the tapes that were is my guess since she ran a site. God only knows what hideous things she’s been part of. Sad.
20
Mike, God only knows, you stated. Therefore you don't know. Yet you attack, apparently in admitted ignorance, this woman who serves her country to keep us safe? Bless her.
2
All journalists should be very concerned if Trump throws them all in jail, as threatened. He'll turn Gina Haspel loose on you. She of course, sounds like she's just as reliable and as honest as Trump. Scary.
12
Did you feel just as strongly about Eric Holder’s DOJ wiretapping journalists?
Nazi torturers were pursued, charged, paraded, convicted and imprisoned or executed.
American torturers are respected, hired, consulted, rewarded and promoted. What a difference a half century makes.
And for anyone who thinks waterboarding was the full extent of our use of this tactic in the aftermath of 9-11, I suggest you educate yourself.
And for anyone who thinks this strategy was defensible, read the CIA’s own assessment: “Brutal and ineffective.”
37
Yes Japanese commanders were prosecuted for waterboarding and other torture after WWII.
2
People who are surprised that human beings like Goebbels, Beria and Torquemada existed and performed whatever they did should look at this and re-think what it means to be American. I am just doing that by the way.
13
Well, all of you who just had to vote for Jill Stein , meet Gina Haspel !
19
oh please. it's called d-e-m-c-r-a-c-y. Independent voters are responsible for the failure of the U.S. to hold torturers accountable? Give it a rest.
P.S. I voted for Sec. Clinton.
2
It takes some truly amazing mental gymnastics to blame the left for the crimes they’ve consistently, publicly opposed and fought to bring accountability for. Let’s be clear: This happened — and this is happening now — under a Republican administration with the support of many Democrats. Bipartisanship at its finest.
2
Hello, if the Democrats vote against her, she can't be confirmed.
The fact that Democrats will vote for her is the reason that I voted for Jill Stein.
As soon as Democrats stop being lesser evil, mini-Republicans then I will start voting for them.
Obama should have prosecuted all of the torturers, but didn't. If he had, she would she would be in prison.
Democrats spent eight years yelling me Republicans wouldn't let then do anything. Note they are telling me they can't stop Trump from doing anything. That only makes sense if the job of Democrats is to enable Republican policy.
2
"Gina Haspel Likely to Be Confirmed as C.I.A. Chief After Repudiating Torture."
Using this reasoning, the Nazis tried at Nuremberg who claimed they were only following orders should have had their crimes overlooked and been promoted in what was left of the Third Reich army.
22
... or put in charge of NASA...?
3
What kind of women would go work for this administration? Has Gina Haspel sold her soul?
8
This assumes she has one to sell in the first place.
3
Second day in office Obama issued an executive order, directing that Guantanamo be shut down within a year.
One year later which party held the majority in both in House and Senate, and decided the "enhanced" interrogation program wasn't that bad?
14
erwan, did Obama shut down Guantanamo? Nope.
Did he learn as President things we are not privy to, the true threats that make keeping it going a necessity?
1
He tried to shut it down, but the republicans wouldn't let him. Surprise, surprise.
I have been patiently waiting for all of that "intel" we gathered by torturing prisoners. Rinse, lather, repeat. We will reap what we have sown.
8
Good intel stays classified, so get ready wait a long time.
1
Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words.
4
I suppose it doesn't matter. Every CIA nominee, including Haspel, says, in effect: "On my watch we will not engage in torture. But when we do (and we will), we won't tell you that so you can maintain your precious deniability."
16
I hope Gina Haspel is confirmed to be the next CIA Director. Her confirmation will be a major step in the women's liberation movement. As the first female CIA Director, she will go down in history as the first. Few get the opportunity to the be first, but Gina Haspel will.
She has significant experience. It can't be denied. She will bring years of experience to the job, more than any previous man. Above all, Haspel has worked in the shadows, protecting America from evil. I like that. I like Americans who have protected the nation from evil. I will feel significantly comfortable with her in charge. I believe that the CIA should work in the shadows. People don't need to know what they do, because what they do is find out who is bad and who is good, and deal with them accordingly.
People in the CIA, like Gina Haspel, are probably the most trusted people in the world because they undergo routine polygraph tests. Not all Americans undergo such scrutiny, but those in the CIA do, that makes them the most trusted. Trusted to protect America from evil. America must be protected from evil.
Her confirmation will be yet another triumph for President Trump. How many have there been? Thank you, President Trump for nominating Gina Haspel for this job. I support the President. I support Trump. Thank you.
4
Only one problem, who protects the world from our evil?
4
"...I have noted the valuable intelligence collected..."
More testimony, to add to Leon Panetta's and others', that enhanced interrogation yielded actionable intelligence.
Let the self-righteous Monday morning quarterbacks whine. God bless Haspel and the others like her who protected us after 9/11.
5
Torturers don’t protect us, they endanger us.
12
"...after 9/11..." OH how I love that spin. Who was on watch Jeff when that happened? Wait...I meant who was asleep on watch when that happened? Oh how some of us forget.
4
Congratulations, America. This is a new low.
It's one thing to not prosecute a whole lot of high-ranking government officials for war crimes (a De-Cheney-fication so to speak), but electing to put Bloody "I was just following orders" Gina, a mixture of Reinhard Heydrich and Nurse Ratched, at the head of the CIA is really utterly appalling.
69
At least she has a spine and doesn't let her country get overrun by the enemy like Berlin.
Don't worry, you don't have to come here, we certainly won't go there.
How can this administration/Congress go?
I wonder if she would support the water boarding torture of Donald Trump in the Mueller probe?
Let's fill the lungs of Trump, Cohen, Pruitt, Pence, Ryan, McConnell...with choking water and see what they have to say about Putin, Russia, lobbyists and women Trump has paid off to stay silent.
Trump, up to it?
17
I'd pay to watch that on cable
5
The moral preening of certain senators has been a disgusting sight for the past several weeks. Glad to see Ms. Haspel smash the glass ceiling.
8
"Moral preening," is that what we call opposition to torture? Some of us would call it common decency and pragmatic wisdom.
12
Haspell's confirmation after refusing to disavow that she oversaw torture will greenlight similar tactics by any government that chooses to employ ithem. The surrender of moral principles begun by Nixon and followed by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et. al. is now complete. America has surrendered any claim it may have once had to the moral high ground.
32
Don't forget Obama, with his drone bombing and whistle blower persecution. In fact, one CIA officer blew the whistle on the CIA for torture.
He went to jail, and the head torturer is made the head of the CIA. America, hope you are proud.
10
Indeed. Obama ‘looked the other way‘ too when it came to holding the torturers accountable. I guess he was ‘just following orders‘...
1
This moral paragon "repudiates torture" AFTER supervising a site at which torture took place and also AFTER destroying evidence about what had been done?
Would this sort of post-facto "repudiation" have worked in the Nuremberg trails?
A sad day for the US and it's claims to moral values, or even the values of human decency!
Morality is another "casualty of war"?
11
Please tell us all how any "Morality" is not a "casualty of war"? It seems to me that all of this self righteous indignation ignores the fact that in EVERY war regardless of the Geneva Convention atrocities occur. People that scream about people being tortured seem to have no qualms about people killed in a "humane" way.
1
How disgusting that someone who aided and abetted, covered up, and may have even participated in torture gets a promotion and a pat on the back instead of a jail sentence.
How empty of morals our country has become when an empty promise to not do it again is sufficient to support this woman’s rise to the top.
Republicans I expect little of. But I still held out hope for Democrats and even The NY Times Editorial Board. In vain, it appears.
15
The best thing about calamity of Trump and the Torturer Haspel is that it is showing the true face of America.
After decades of endless wars, renditions, targeted killings all over the global, black torture sites and thousands of innocent civilians killed in drone strikes, does anyone still believe we are the 'Good Guys'?
And please don't do the "Well Russia and China are worse" act when we have a much higher proportion of our people incarcerated than either of those countries.
Sad to say, America has completely lost its way and any claim to moral, ethical or political superiority.
20
Democratic votes are from Senators who are more fearful of losing their coveted Senate seats rather than having the courage to do what is right. This is why the a Democratic Party will not win back Congress. No principles.
14
Sure seems to me that Ms. Haspel has done just about everything to get this job. She almost seems desperate. Kind of like Jeff Sessions. She jumped hoops, talked to people, wrote letters and had people speak up for her. What happened to standing on her own merits rather than kowtowing.
9
"Enhanced interrogation" aside, Mr. Warner's statement that Gina Haspel "would “stand up” to Mr. Trump if he ordered her to do something illegal or immoral" is misguided. Removing evidence often indicates that something illegal or immoral happened, which is being covered up. Was Ms. Haspel standing up for morals when tapes of interrogations were being destroyed?
10
in a perfect world she would be in a jail cell along with the other war criminals of that period -
46
It wouldn't even have to be perfect, but just.
2
Haspel is a liar. She is trained to be so and is effective. Warner is weak and a coward who has no capacity to stand up for what is right. She will not "stand up to Trump," nobody does that is clear. Warner didn't, she will not. America has no standing so why should she or he.
As for the rest of the Democrats on the committee, will they also cave? The venerated McCain is against her so why doesn't everyone who praises his every breath fall into line?
"Higher Standards?" "Hard lessons?!" Life is tough Gina. It sure is. Now you can get back to work and everyone will cheer and fall into line. And when Trump insults you and threatens to fire you, you will grovel and "turn up the volts Mr. President? Buzz, buzz, Mr. Pompeo?"
21
liberal democrats prove again that they think voters are stupid
10
Also shows that both parties need to go. I am starting to have equal disdain for the Democratic Party too.
8
American voters settled that question in 2016.
1
The torture program is a stain on our country and values. Those involved in its planning, implementation and subsequent coverup should be prosecuted, not promoted.
25
We all repudiate torture. Water boarding is not torture. Every CIA operative is water boarded. It is called training. Torture is when you are forced to watch your wife and under aged daughter gang aped and decapitated with a rusty dull knife as you hear their curdling screaming. These are the tactics that radical muslims embrace. Our congress and media whine about a couple of terrorists who get their faces wet. It is a disgrace.
6
I am curious have you had any direct experience with this technique? Also are you aware that no viable intel has ever come from torture? Let's hope you never find out.
3
Why don’t you educate yourself about the other methods we used against captives? The ones even worse than waterboarding (which IS torture), and resulted in death and serious injuries.
4
And Gina Haspel's advancement announces to the rest of the world that we are not a nation of any higher principles than our enemies.
3
It's beyond belief that the country has become so PC that a nominee for CIA has to pretend to reject the use of torture.
What in the world is wrong with bleeding heart snowflakes? Michael Savage is correct. Liberalism is a mental affliction. Radical Islamists want to destroy the US / west and snowflakes are worried about waterboarding?
Well thank goodness it's just public posturing by the CIA and other law enforcement agencies. The snowflakes should look at videos of 911 and see the people in the twin towers who had to make the choice to suffocate, or to be burned alive or to jump hundreds of feet to their deaths.
7
We have all seen the videos of 9-11, including, of course, people jumping from the towers. We still don't all approve of torture. For heaven's sake.
15
We "snowflakes" recognize a jihadi recruitment opportunity when we see it. And that is exactly what Haspel's advancement will mean.
10
No moral compass? Check
Knows to destroy the evidence? Check
Gina Haspel will have a cabinet post within months.
25
“No moral compass? Check
Knows to destroy the evidence? Check”
Sounds like Hillary’s campaign platform.
1
We are monsters.
18
I think we knew all along that Haspel, torture, assassination and bloodshed were coming to head the CIA all along. That's what they're there for...you know...
She's like a deadly grandma from Michigan that cannot wait for more murder and mayhem in her barn.
A beautiful appointment and confirmation by a great American Congress.
10
Go Gina ! Torture early and often. Show the terrorists who the real boss lady is.
6
Another step in total dictatorship as this fool hearty administration marches on. Will child labor laws be the next to go and seven year olds be forced to work. This is totally disgusting.
8
She will say anything to get a new job in the ruling class. Once she has the job, she can do anything she wants like other Trump best picks, De Vos, Carson, Zinke, Pruitt.
15
Of course she will be confirmed. She favors torture and ignores the US Constitution. She is ideal for the Republican/Trump mafia.
26
Democrats they cave in so easy. So guess Nelson lost my vote
12
Virginia senators roll over like puppies.
Have you ever heard them suggesting that we phase out Endless War?
8
And that is the sad reality.
3
But, but, but she got rid of evidence about torture......
12
Beyond appalling. The head of the CIA a confirmed torturer. What happens to our US troops when they are interrogated abroad?
This sets America on such an extraordinary dangerous path and puts so many of our American patriots at risk. Men and women enlistees will be routinely tortured because America has sanctioned torture.
What happened to Nuremberg? The principles that evolved after the atrocity known as WWII?
"Simply "Gone With the Wind".
23
While I do not agree with torturing a human, I do not think for one moment that an adversary would treat American prisoners one way or another based on our policies.
Also, does anyone honestly believe that the U.S. does not torture prisoners daily at Gitmo? There is no other reason for the facility to remain in use other than torture prisoners outside the U.S.
1
“Gina Haspel Likely to Be Confirmed“
Confirmation of a torturer. I guess bullying works. So much for #BeBest.
5
So despite the fact that Haspel ran CIA torture chambers, Warner will still vote for her confirmation. And he somehow believes that she will "stand up" to Trump if he ordered her to do so again?
Given that I don't think Warner is this stupefyingly naive, I imagine his decision is down to moral corruption or immense cynicism.
Couple Warner's decision with Schumer's praise of Trump for the Jerusalem embassy move yesterday - and his silence on the massacre of Palestinians.
Is it any wonder that so many would-be Democrats are so disillusioned with the Democratic party? Spineless, immoral, cynical people, the lot of them.
15
What's new? None of the torture enablers have been charged with anything. bush's lawyers created new phony laws legalizing torture. Condoleeza Rice Rice approved the torture. Lock Rice up. Lock Cheney up.
8
So I guess she was just following orders? Where have historians heard that before?
5
The world is a dangerous place. Glad we’ll now have someone running the CIA who understands that.
5
Torturing makes the world more dangerous.
Torturing innocents (which we did) makes the world more dangerous and is morally repugnant.
But hey, Home of the Brave and all that. At least the song says it. ‘Cause torture is the act of a coward.
3
Trump keeps trotting out the same people who made the mistakes that brought the country down before, rationalizing their failures, rewriting the record, and preparing us to do it all over.
4
My fellow old-fashioned liberals (not much different from modern "progressives" and certainly not "neoliberals").
She was going to be confirmed, with or without us. We won a small victory; she, a lifetime professional, has acknowledged that torture is wrong.
It might not seem like much, but to me this is enough.
Let's accept this and all move on.
4
And ...
VOTE!!! Get all your friends to vote. No more circular firing squads, please.
6
Does anyone remember Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest? Haspel is perfect for this role!
5
That Democrats like Mark Warner would throw the moral consideration of supporting a relatively unrepentant admitted torturer to head the CIA is why I fear for them in the coming mid-term elections. In the age of Donald Trump, a supporter of torture and a destroyer of principle, I'd hope that Democrats would be the party of morality. But, once again, they just don't seem to get it. To support Gina Haspel is an abandonment of such principle and an acceptance of the low immoral standard that Donald Trump has brought to Washington. This is outrageous and I, as a lifelong Democrat, will not vote this November for those who support Ms. Haspel.
13
This is wonderful news for American security. And it means that future CIA operatives will be able to think up new ways of enhanced interrogation in order to save innocent people from terrorist crimes.
1
Pssst ... It also means OUR people will be tortured.
3
Just another case of a person saying what they think needs to be heard by others in order to obtain power, where they can continue to be the monster they have already shown they are. Is it just me, or is a large majority of our population incredibly dense and gullible?
6
“The United States must be an example to the rest of the world, and I support that.”
Me too; send her (As well as Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and G.W. to The Hague for prosecution.
27
Of course she is a terrible choice. But is there any reason to assume that anyone else Trump nominated wouldn't be even worse.
4
Ms. Haspel has worked her way through the ranks of the CIA for decades and is well liked and respected within the organization. Regarding her participation in torture - this was in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. I would be furious to learn that in the days after 9/11 our Government and its agents were not doing absolutely everything they could to protect the Country. We had no idea what was going on, who was involved, who was already within our borders and how to stop these numerous ongoing plots. The fact that Kalid Sheikh Mohammad is so afraid of her promotion to the head job only makes me like her more.
Ms. Haspel has indicated strongly that she does not support torture and that it does not work as a regular means of intelligence gathering. In the days after 9/11 when we had higher ups who knew of active plots and the structure of Al Qaeda I don't blame anybody for doing what you had to.
5
Torture was not necessary to protect the country. As experts have said, torture, in addition to being morally repugnant, is not an effective method of interrogation. Given that, having "higher ups" who knew of anything isn't a justification of it.
1
Sorry but it is absolutely pathetic to hear that an American would say having a "higher up" that may have information about terrorist plots is not justification for making them talk.
It just is sometimes. It should not be a policy going forward because it is a stupid means of intelligence gathering but we had no clue what was going on and not everything is sweet in fluffy in the world. These people were actively trying to blow up our cities and were succeeding.
"While two Republican senators, John McCain of Arizona and Rand Paul of Kentucky, have expressed opposition to her confirmation, two other Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Joe Donnelly of Indiana, have also said they will vote for her."
There's a lesson here - if the parties were reversed in this situation, not a single Republican would vote for her and they probably wouldn't even have scheduled the hearing or met with her.
That said, even putting aside that she ordered the destruction of official records and apparently lied about the torture program, it bothers me a lot that she oversaw - and, I would guess, probably was sometimes in the room during sessions of - torture. I hope the Democrats who will vote for her know what they're doing. They're assuming that her post-hearing written backpedaling is honest and, going forward, reliable. But what does it say about a person's basic moral compass if that person is capable of directly overseeing torture? Or is moral compass not a key prerequisite for heading the CIA?
6
It is a spy agency. Of course its leaders might oversee or condone or otherwise be amenable to advocating or authorizing torture. She may be one of the worst, morally speaking, but she does have agency credentials, Trump could appoint somebody a lot worse in the Bolton mold, and this is a public letter, so that may be a good cudgel to use if she goes back to her old ways
Assuming the GOP cares, but I’m not sure about that, apart from Sen McCain!!!
1
We need to choose people based on their record, not their promise to not do something again. We have seen promises during confirmation from Supreme Court nominees to cabinet nominees promise one thing only to go back on the promise. With our politicians all a nominee has to do is say I'm sorry I'll never do that again, and that is enough.
Time for a change!
3
"Gina Haspel Likely to Be Confirmed as C.I.A. Chief." Why? Because she's intelligent and qualified? Or because she's also a proven reliable yes-man?
3
Can we put a stake in the wisdom of electing Democrats to the Senate in red States.
3
That's Great! A soulless automaton to lead the CIA! What could be better than that?
4
Is Gina Haspel the only capable person in a country of 320 million? Did her credentials as torturer lead to Trump's nomination of her? And the Intelligence Committee is going to confirm her. Frankly, I'm more disgusted with the Intelligence Committee. They are responsible for vetting the candidate. Just because she swore with her hand up not to conduct inhumane torture post 9/11 into the future does not mean she will not. Trump is who he is but the intelligent in the intelligence committee? Scrap this committee for not doing their jobs. Why do we need a horse and pony show? They are putting a fox to guard the chicken coup.
5
She still doesn't get it. She won't call it torture, she can't see the absolute moral wrong of one human being inflicting tortuous pain on another human being, and her moral compass doesn't reach outside her own institution. She's made it clear: her first priority is the CIA, her second is USA "interests." Humanity rates a distant third. To say she is unfit is too kind.
5
Here's one of those great women that will make everything better because she's a woman. That's the way it works, right?
4
Hind site is always 20/20.
1
She could be arrested overseas for crimes against humanity. Talk about international incidents!
5
I hope there is a judge in a EU country drawing up indictments for her now. That would be justice.
Those of us who dream that the Democratic party will one day re-discover a set of principles upon which to stand need look no further than this moment for a rude awakening. They can't even stand in unison against a war criminal of the highest order, of the most unapologetic and inhuman variety, and will meekly and disjointedly allow this torture queen to be lifted to a position of monumental importance. No leadership. No unity. No spine. No anything. Just losers, content to continue losing, because standing for something is just too darn hard.
This was an easy one. There weren't even corporate campaign donations at risk. The Democratic party of my father no longer exists. They are bankrupt and destined for the trash heap of history. They couldn't even stand against torture.
Obama is to blame, if we are honest, for refusing to hold anyone accountable for the war crimes committed in our name. He looked forward, not back. Haspel- a torturer who destroyed the evidence- was the future he refused to see.
27
the party is fine, its these 3 or 4 people desperate to woo conservatives that will never vote for them. Manchin and Heitkamp in particular have been the necessary democratic votes in almost every case, they need to go.
5
Gee whiz. All Mr. Al-Nashiri had to do was to say that in hindsight, he saw the bombing of the USS Cole as a bad thing. His conviction would have been vacated!
1
Based on Ms Haspel's testimony and behavior, it is clear that she is okay with torturing people suspected of <whatever>, so long as she doesn't personally face any consequences from her role in it.
7
Mark Warner needs to have a strong primary challenger in 2020.
11
I didn't read her quotes as repudiating torture. I didn't even read her calling it that.
3
Does anyone really think she wrote that letter? It is so carefully worded. Looks to me like the wording was negotiated so that a few Dems could now affirm her.
5
I do not care what party you are a member of, if you vote to put this War Criminal in at the CIA you are contemptible.
You are also rewarding an evil person who hid behind the legal fictions of War Criminals John Yoo and David Addington who should lose their law licenses.
47
The Supreme Court should issue a bench warrant for Haspel.
2
The new head of the CIA - Bloody Gina. What a country.
9
Here is whistle blower John Kiriakou talking about Haspel. Remember: He saw her in action.
Kiriakou was a CIA analyst who blew the whistle on torture in 2007. He was sentenced to 30 months in a high security Federal prison for telling the truth: waterboarding IS torture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdeW7j2bQ70
1
Yay a war criminal for the head of the CIA. If I were a undercover CIA agent I'd be stocking up in cyanide pills in case I get caught. Torture is on the table.
2
I’m thrilled to see this. People can change and the fact that Gina Haspel renounced institutional torture is a welcome sign that she has profited from the groundswell of thoughtful opposition against her former position!
8
words are cheap, i fail to see how an overnight repentance discounts a decade of behavior to the contrary.
12
But John, she renounce institutional torture solely to get the job. She has never admitted taht she did wrong when it was happening.
14
We are not talking about Gina's eternal soul. We are talking about whether she should be head of the CIA. She is a walking-talking jihadi recruitment poster. "Maybe she learned something," is not going to make headlines across the world. "Woman who tortured and destroyed evidence," will. Approving her appointment is a stupid, stupid move.
11
DRS of New York:
I refer you generally to https://www.hrw.org/news/2003/03/11/legal-prohibition-against-torture#laws
1 excerpt:
Neither international nor domestic law conditions the right not to be subjected to torture on citizenship or nationality. No detainee held by U.S. authorities—regardless of nationality, regardless of whether held in the U.S. or in another country, and regardless of whether the person is deemed a combatant or civilian—may be tortured. All applicable international law applies to U.S. officials operating abroad, including the Convention against Torture [ratified by the U.S. in 1994] and the Geneva Conventions.
So a mea culpa letter, nebulous half-truths and fuzzy details, are the incentives needed to get the Democrats to change their votes?! And then they wonder why so far they aren't gaining any serious traction in this electoral season!
They just helped confirm as the new director of the CIA a person who has a murky past at best, compromised integrity and a proven track record at breaking all kinds of national and international laws, rules and regulations...good choice!
52
This administration has thumbed its nose at the emoluments clause and enriched itself at the taxpayer's expense, and continues to do so unabated.
This administration has tried to reverse every single thing the last administration and Democratic President achieved for the good of the country, while nary caring for the consequences to 100's of millions of people.
This administration has put into place of powers and in the cabinet people that have been woefully inadequate or inexperienced, while they have lived grand on the taxpayer's dime/taxes.
This administration is now going to tell the world that torture is alright and not a war crime, by putting forth a candidate that symbolizes exactly that.
The republican controlled Congress should show a conscious and vote NO on this candidate, but they will rubber stamp it, just as much as they sit on their hands while the President goes to war all over the globe without their approval. ( THEIR EXCLUSIVE JOB laid out in the Constitution )
The country and its Democratic institutions are broken.
25
Black ops has many shades of grey. The letter itself should have disqualified her to lead the agency.
She says the information was valuable but not worth the damage to our officers or standing in the world.
In hindsight had it been worth the information to damage both the officers and our standing in the world should we have done it?
We are putting someone in charge who needs the judgement and foresight to know the difference and make the right call.
"I was only following orders" used to be an unacceptable excuse. Make America Great Again, indeed.
give her credit for being loyal to the agents of the CIA. how could she lead the organization if she had thrown the agents under the bus who conducted torture under the direction and assurance of legality by their superiors. I admire her for taking the heat.
she has said she would not go against the new law prohibiting torture and would not have follow orders to do so.
the question we all should ask ourselves is what will we say is acceptable interrogation tactics should another 9/11 happen. Will we give unspoken consent to torture in our mindless fear.
3
"Taking the heat"? In what way? This has cost her nothing.
1
Haspel's confirmation just did - gave "unspoken consent to torture in our mindless fear".
this letter says a lot while saying nothing. Haspel does not recant any testimony, concede error in action or word. She insists that it is only with the benefit of hindsight that she recognizes that the torture program should not have been undertaken. I guarantee you no jail or prison head (except maybe Joe Arpaio) would have condoned waterboarding for any of its most heinous offenders. This tells you waterboarding was always beyond the pale, morally and legally. We don't need "hindsight" to recognize that. Our military knew at the time that torture elicits unreliable information because the goal of the torture victim is to stop the torture by saying what the torturer wants to hear, not by stating the truth. Haspel's letter only reinforces the conclusion that she believes torture was fine at the time (because she did not have the benefit of hindsight). This shows she lacks foresight and good judgment and will go along to get along. That's not what we need with a president who actively promotes waterboarding "and a whole lot worse" (yes, Donald Trump said that).
1
Far better ways to pry information out of belligerents these days...
First, have the FBI execute a no-knock raid on their cell, taking their toothpaste and clean T-shirts or whatever...
Then - interview them a couple of times and face them down (metaphorically, of course) with the discrepancies in their sneering silence from one session to the next...
Before long - they'll sing like choirboys...
Yeah - it's always boys...
Of course, if Clinton had prevailed - we could just drone the guys...
Times has changed...
.....
Go get 'em, Gina...
3
Seriously, I think the method used to break Manuel Noriega could work better: relentless discussions with Jesuits, day and night...
5
Don't like this CIA nominee. Served in Thailand in 1966 never heard of CIA prisons. I knew the CIA had operations going on in Laos along Ho Chi Minh trail. This woman doesn't pass the smell test with me.
11
Things would be the same 36 years later?
Thanks for the letter.
How do you sleep at night?
1
My guess is she sleeps quite well.
The banality of evil.
1
And how different is Ms. Haspil from the captured Nazi generals whose excuse was that they were only following orders? Yet, her only punishment would be to NOT get the promotion.
11
And continue to receiver her $187,000 annual salary as Deputy Director of the CIA - plus a full benefit package.
Nice work if you can get it .......
Democrats disappoint yet again. She said she’ll stand up to Trump and never do it again. That’s it? She breaks the late, evades questions & gets rewarded. Justice dies another death.
5
You, go girl! Break the glass ceiling.
2
They found the missing videos?
1
Another victory for our two party system in Congress. The Republican Party reaching across the aisle to join with the Fascist party. Bravo.
2
Congressional cave-ins. Portraits of political cowardice.
41
“While I won’t condemn those that made these hard calls, and I have noted the valuable intelligence collected, the program ultimately did damage to our officers and our standing in the world,”...
So, why bother with the charade of a Senate hearing? The useless exercise is an embarrassment to all who participate and a greater embarrassment to Americans.
32
I am done with Democrats. I’m changing my registration to independent forever. They have to earn and beg for my vote. And this doesn’t merit my vote, ever. Warner, any other Dem voting for Haspel will never get any support from me. I’m outta Democrats after 50 years.
9
I made that decision 10 years ago. Both parties are self interested and have forgotten they serve the people. I wish I knew what a viable third party was, but for now I will stay NPA. It helps my conscience at least.
Wow - what a country we are - claiming all sorts of feel-good attributes, but all the while winking and nodding at torture (and of course--actually torturing) as the powers that be confirm another nominee of Trumps - only the best. I feel as if I've fallen down the hole in Alice's nightmare.
50
But we know in her heart he doesn't feel that way and most likely won't make decisions to act that way even if she manages to hid it.
2
torture was and is illegal (constitution forbids cruel and unusual punishment-this is one of many legal prohibitions that existed at the time of the CIA torture program)
torture does not obtain reliable information-a person who is tortured will say whatever s/he thinks the torturer wants to hear
even if torture worked, the price of freedom is: do not torture. we should not have sacrificed our integrity and morality. we did so to get revenge and to deter others from attempting to repeat the acts of 9/11. these do not justify torture. nothing justifies torture.
when we torture others, WE TORTURE OURSELVES: by giving license to others to torture. U.S. citizens become targets for kidnapping and torture.
17
The Constitution does not apply to foreigners overseas. Read up.
1
What about MKUltra from the Vietnam Era?
What kind of administration would nominate someone who had actually been directly involved in torture? Even if she renounced it, even though the acts she OK'd are now illegal, she should not get a pass.
We just say no in cases like this, even if the person is the best one in the room. No former slaveholder ever became president after the civil war. there are boundaries.
16
There were boundaries; once upon a time in America.
She may even actually disagree with torture, but ... What does it matter? She did it anyway. I'm not sure if its better or worse if she didn't really agree with the grizzly project she oversaw.
18
She was just following orders.
History does repeat itself.
2
Please watch this video of John Kiriakou who actually witnessed Haspel's behavior. Kiriakou was a CIA analyst who in 2006 called water boarding torture. He was sentenced to 30 months in a Federal prison; while Haspel gets elevated to the top job at the CIA.
She comes to her nickname based on her true attitude toward torture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdeW7j2bQ70
3
Haspel said what she calculated was necessary to get confirmation for the job. So she has now taken contrary positions. How do we know which one she really meant? Why was it so hard for her to say that torture is wrong? Did she not expect the questions that were asked? She must have. So her carefully prepared answers were: that was then, this is now. That is baloney. Torture was always illegal. She wanted to avoid opening herself to liability by admitting she knowingly committed illegal acts. No integrity. Republicans destroy our integrity by insisting that we commit wrongs and then denying that the acts committed were wrong. They force the country into an untenable position. Read the memo that justified torture: the twisted reasoning required to reach the foregone and desired conclusion demonstrates the authors didn't believe it
11
if progressives want government to function, their obstructionism is remarkable. They complain incessantly about every breath Trump makes, then block any and all appointments so government grinds to a halt - all so they can complain about seats not filled and ineffective government.
all the more ironic, since its da Dems that seem to always wish for big government.
4
So let's put a known torturer who destroyed evidence of her torturing in charge. Brilliant
1
You really should get away from Faux news a little more often. The Republican Party has created more government interference than the Dems ever have.
1
Great! The woman who oversaw waterboarding, which the Army Field Manual currently defines as torture, is going to be confirmed.
In his little plot in Arlington Cemetery, my father, who won a Bronze Star in the Pacific in the Second World War, is spinning in his grave. This is no longer the country he fought for.
I am sick with the shame of it.
127
Stop romanticizing the past. During WWII, the country your father was fighting for ran Japanese internment camps, had a segregated military, routinely bombed civilians, including with nuclear weapons, and so forth. The fact that you are sick with shame about the present U.S.A., the best country on earth by far, says more about you than about it.
3
DRS -
I'm not "romanticizing the past", and I'm well aware of the things you point out.
However - and you may not be aware of this - after the Second World War, we helped write the Nuremberg Principles, which specifically spelled out the things that constituted war crimes. Torture, including waterboarding, was among them.
Ms. Haspel is using the "I was only following orders" defense. We hanged people who used it.
This present U.S.A., which you describe as the best country in the world by far, is going backwards. Hate crimes are on the rise, more people are on food stamps than ever, and income inequality is at its highest since the Gilded Age.
You really have no right to lecture.
Yet the best country on earth by far has worse health outcomes in terms of life expectancy and infant mortality than similar advanced nations that spend far less per capita on healthcare.
A minimum wage that is barely subsistence level. Income and wealth inequality getting much worse with unaffordable tax cuts, is nothing to boast about.
1
I so wish she'd been more explicit about obeying "legal" orders.
1
For many years, I was a registered Democrat.
I left the party shortly after the election of President Obama (for whom I voted twice) because of the party's embrace of Joe Lieberman - who had campaigned against Obama.
What is the point of voting for Democrats when, as in the earlier betrayal, they are so easily bought and sold? Principles be damned...Mark Warner was swayed by a carefully crafted, lawyerly letter.
A pox on all their houses.
NOT my president
89
Yes, Lieberman. who gave the majority to the Democrats, if they counted him. Well, he could hardly be counted on. And, the Democrats never really had the majority, with that good friend of the, "lie us into war," Bush W.
What was his oddball motivations, other then money? Clearly, he would have voted for Haspel.
Oh, and Nancy Pelosi, is hardly better. Against single payer, votes for, "more defense," at every chance.
6
Sure, a pox on both their houses, but if the Democrats don't win at least one house, they will hold no committee chairs, and the Trump administration will not be held accountable on any front. We all had better hope the Democrats win, and hope that investigations and accountability, in some fashion, will follow. The Haspel nomination is a dark moment, but it isn't the only thing we have to worry about. At least under Obama there was no practice of torture -- Trump and Haspel, without oversight -- we can't be sure.
9
The Democrats are doing nothing to stop Trump now. What more would they did of they win a few seats?
Democrats have to show that they are different, not just lesser evil Republican Lite, refusing to actually oppose their policies.
Repudiation in a letter ... that alright then.
5
The United States no longer exists
72
Until George W. Bush and Dick Cheney's PR campaign to make torture acceptable, no mainstream politician in the U.S. advocated its use. But the Republican Party, Fox News, and shows like 24 did their part and now a large segment of the population enjoys the thought of torture and supports politicians who pledge to use it. The U.S. is an outlaw nation breeding generations of torture loving fanatics, supporting torturers like Haspel.
60
She should belong in jail.
But by all means, the same handful of “moderate” — a meaningless term these days — Democrats support her as the head of a powerful agency.
They are all on the wrong side of history and should be ashamed.
68
I am amazed by how fast a civilization can slip into superstition, lawlessness and barbarity.
66
Don't be. Look at what happened to the pre-1930's Weimar Republic (Germany)...
7
Imagine President Hillary Clinton nominating Gina Haspel to be Director of the CIA. How would @GOP be responding? What would they be saying?
13
If Leon Panetta endorses her, that’s good enough for me.
2
It was nice to hear that a woman now heads the CIA. Awaiting her up-vote was just torture.
2
The hypocrisy surrounding the nomination of this superb career CIA officer is rather stunning. The vote to approve John Brennan to lead the agency sailed through. 63 voting to confirm with lavish praise, including Feinstein, Warner, Wyden, Reed, Heinrich...despite the fact that he was #4 in CIA leadership when the Enhanced Interrogation program was stood up and operated until 2007. He bore far more responsibility in that leadership post than Haspel did. No one repudiated the 8 members of the Senate/House Intell committees who were briefed on the program 35/30 times.
6
Lesson learned : NO more videotapes. SAD.
9
It can all be posted on YouTube
Rosemary Woods 'merely' erased a few minutes of an audio tape. Haspel destroyed 92 video tapes.
Guess that's why Haspel will be annoited the head of a major US agency while Woods died a mere secretary
1
Bernie Sanders was asked by Jake Tapper how he could oppose Gina Haspel when he supported John Brennan.
Clearly, the nation went astray, but if you do something wrong once, does that mean you have to keep doing it wrong or that you can’t acknowledge your past mistakes? Haspel has said she would not institute a program of torture under any circumstances, but she refused to condemn it as immoral and wrong when she facilitated it. The obvious question if she does not think it was wrong then, why should she think it is wrong now and why should she would disobey a commander in chief who ordered her to do it.
Trump has said he would waterboard “and worse.” He also said he would go after the wives and children of suspected terrorists in order to extract information.
Maybe he can even get another lawyer like Mr. Yoo at Boalt Hall to concoct a legal opinion saying it’s OK.
Are Gina Haspel’s credentials and experience as a CIA operative that essential? Aren’t there equally qualified people who have a sufficient moral compass to testify why they wouldn’t re-institute a torture program, i.e., because it is immoral and a violation of international law. People who actually know why they wouldn’t do it.
25
Obama is the most disappointing to me. He should have known better, and in his heart and mind I believe he did.
4
So, the American people, as well as the rest of the world, know that we have tortured, and will again if we feel it is necessary, with no consequences at all. But of course we condemn torture.
15
Talk about the swamp! She never uses the word "torture" and never says that the "enhanced interrogation techniques" are immoral. Otherwise she repeats what she said about the CIA not being in the interrogation business. But your headline says she repudiated CIA torture which clearly, and explicitly, she did not. Warner says she satisfied his concerns. Private assurances over drinks at the Palm? Maybe a little groping under the table? It's all good.
6
We all must vote Democrat to stop Trump’s agenda! (Terms and conditions apply. Not valid for use in torture-related instances.)
8
Her past indicates that she will do as ordered without question. Her insistence to protect those that went above the law to torture in the past raises doubt about her claim that she will stand up to Trump if ordered to do something illegal ring hollow.
27
There is really only one question to be asked of Haspel and her fellow torturers -- and let's not call it something as absurdly transparent as "enhanced interrogation" -- and I have yet to hear it asked:
"If you truly believed that your decisions and actions were legal, why did you not bring those prisoners to the continental United States and use 'enhanced interrogation' methods here?"
37
Her answers about torture were not satisfactory and I do not believe that she will stand up to Trump. While I appaud the idea of a women heading the CIA, just not her.
84
Is anyone really not surprised that this latest bottom feeder picked by Trump, well be approved to lead the CIA? Trump finds the worst, and a complacent Republican Congress goes right along with it. The swamp is over running its banks. The pollution spreads more and more with each passing day.
4
Nice backbone... Clearly a letter she was forced to make shows that she has changed.
6
"...the program ultimately did damage to our officers and our standing in the world."
Does this make Ms. Haspel eligible for some sort of recognition for understatement? The world still convulses from the Iraq invasion predicated on lies and the ineptness of GWB and his phalanx of chicken-hawks. It is a maximum travesty that those responsible will not be held accountable.
10
The other issue is the destruction of interrogation tapes. From what I've read, she hasn't satisfactorily addressed why she wanted the tapes destroyed.
Even with her backtracking on torture, she has not addressed this second issue. If I were in the Senate, I would vote against her confirmation. I hope my senators, Patty Murray (who is on the Veterans Committee) and Maria Cantwell, do so.
114
Democrats keep saying that Republicans wouldn't let them do anything. Now they keep saying they can't stop Trump from doing anything.
What's wrong here?
1
The time to be against torture was—and IS—immediately before a final decision is made regarding these barbaric actions.
Haspel is the farthest thing from a true patriot.
And I, for one, place no stock (¿stockade?) in her revisionist view of what SHOULD have been the chosen course of action.
She is wholly unqualified for this very demanding office.
7
That's a very odd thing for Senator Warner to have done.
1
She may “stand up to Trump” if he orders her to renew the torture program but she won’t last long in the position.
He will simply fire her. Can’t seem to get past her willful destruction of the torture tapes. That was the time for her to “stand up” in my humble opinion.
55
I'd like to read a follow up on Durham's decision not to prosecute. The Obama administration's decision to just move on has baffled me, especially since they got zero political support from the Republicans for it.
7
The President, who'll be her direct boss if she's confirmed, has repeatedly endorsed waterboarding and other forms of torture. She didn't say she'd resist his direct order to torture. It's sad that a meaningless verbal pivot has won her support from Warner, Heitkamp and Manchin.
49
Being re-elected clearly rates higher in their collective books than the morality of their country.
7
"... she would “stand up” to Mr. Trump if he ordered her to do something illegal or immoral."
She's already failed that test in the most obvious and public way possible. Torture was illegal under international law, specifically the Geneva Conventions, when she was overseeing its use. And it was as immoral then as it's ever been. Just ask John McCain.
Then there's the cover-up. There's no reason faces couldn't have been pixelated to preserve the anonymity of the torturers before releasing the tapes. This was a complete red herring to rationalize their destruction.
She's completely unfit for this position, whatever other experiential and intellectual qualifications she may have.
132
People that should have been prosecuted for war crimes under Bush, when Obama was in office, are now being promoted. Just like the no bankers went to jail for the crash. Now Democrats are even on board with a torturer that destroyed the evidence, what have we become. No accountability.
181
Thank you for your comment. I was mostly on-board with Obama as a good president until he let the statute of limitations run out on the bankers’ crimes. That Obama sat on his hands and did nothing to prosecute leadership of the CIA and other agencies involved in “enhanced interrogation methods” is equally disturbing.
23
You write "...what have we become." I think you and millions of others throughout 'the civilized world' know what we have become. They saw it yesterday, in Jerusalem.
55
Kind of a hollow gesture of appeasement. Given the current president's open enthusiasm for torture, Gina Haspel's days of overseeing torturing programs may not be over.
49
Do you want to bet?
Under the Geneva Conventions and all other human rights treaties, the US is obligated to prosecute and punish torturers. Instead, we're promoting them. Some moral leadership of the world, that's for sure.
228
Maybe she should never travel outside of the United States, what with the Hague and all, and that whole torture trials thingie.
2