A highly decorated retired CIA analyst was forcibly removed by a half dozen cops as he attempted to expose the crimes of the nominee for Director of the CIA, Gina Haspel.
The post Elderly Retired CIA Analyst Dragged from Senate Hearing for Exposing Gina Haspel’s War Crimes appeared first on The Free Thought Project.
As members of Congress vote to confirm Gina Haspel as the next director of the CIA, the majority of her record and her experience overseeing illegal torture programs remains classified.
The post Senate is Confirming a War Criminal as CIA Head—And They Won’t Be Shown Most of Her Record appeared first on The Free Thought Project.
(RPI Op-ed) — President Trump’s recent cabinet shake-up looks to be a real boost to hard-line militarism and neo-conservatism. If his nominees to head the State Department and CIA are confirmed, we may well have moved closer to war. Before being chosen by Trump to head up the CIA, Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo was one of […]
ProPublica erred when it reported in 2017 that Gina Haspel was in charge of a secret prison in Thailand during the infamous interrogation of Abu Zubaydah. (PP) — On Feb. 22, 2017, ProPublica published a story that inaccurately described Gina Haspel’s role in the treatment of Abu Zubaydah, a suspected al-Qaida leader who was imprisoned by the […]
(TIM) — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced on Wednesday that he would oppose President Trump’s nominees to head the State Department and CIA, potentially impeding their path to Senate confirmation. “I will oppose both Pompeo’s nomination and Haspel’s nomination,” Paul said. Senator Paul Press Conference on Secretary of State and CIA […]
The new head of the CIA has been a part of the deep state apparatus since 1985. In her tenure, she"s carried out unspeakable torture and was complicit in destroying evidence of US war crimes.
The post First Woman to Head the CIA is an Infamous War Criminal Who Destroyed Evidence of US Torture appeared first on The Free Thought Project.
(ANTIMEDIA) Washington — As neoconservatives celebrate Donald Trump’s selection of General H.R. McMaster to replace Michael Flynn as national security advisor, the Department of Justice on Wednesday sought to block the deposition of the president’s choice for deputy director of the CIA
Gina Haspel, a career CIA officer, was selected by Trump and appointed as deputy director by the agency’s head, Mike Pompeo, on February 2. That same day, however, it was revealed that Haspel, during the post-9/11 Bush era, at one point ran a black site in Thailand where prisoners were waterboarded.
It was also reported that under orders, Haspel aided in the destruction of video tapes capturing the torture taking place at the black site. This allegation was recently confirmed by former CIA Director Michael Morell.
These revelations about Haspel’s past prompted two former CIA contract psychologists to involve the now-deputy director in their own case. The psychologists, who designed “enhanced interrogation” programs for the CIA, are fighting a lawsuit from men seeking to hold them accountable for torture they experienced at black sites.
One of the men, Gul Rahman, died as result of the torture and is being represented in the lawsuit by someone else.
In a court filing in Washington state last week, an attorney for the two former contractors, Bruce Jessen and James Mitchell, contended that:
“Ms. Haspel was centrally involved in the events alleged in plaintiffs Sulaiman Abdulla Salim, Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, and Obaid Ullah, on behalf of Gul Rahman’s…suit against Defendants for actions they purportedly took while contractors for the CIA”
The court filing was an attempt to get the judge to directly compel Haspel, as well as another unidentified man who’s alleged to have headed up the CIA’s Renditions Group, to give testimony. The day before the filing, the attorneys claim, the government informed them it would not authorize the depositions.
The former contractors, Jessen and Mitchell, are seeking to claim that since they were under the employ of the United States government, they should be immunized against legal consequences.
The judge in the case has already granted requests to depose other former CIA officials, such as Counterterrorism Center Chief Jose Rodriguez and Chief Attorney John Rizzo. But those men have publicly discussed their roles in U.S. torture programs through memoirs that were screened by the CIA
The agency, in other words, has had a chance to sift through the information those officials intended to reveal. It’s had no such opportunity with Haspel, however, and on Wednesday the government used this as reasoning to block the deputy director’s deposition.
In the filing, U.S. attorneys and Justice Department officials said the government “anticipates asserting the state secret privilege” to prevent Haspel from testifying.
Speaking of Haspel and the other unnamed man, the brief claimed the U.S. government “has never officially acknowledged whether either witness had any role in the former detention and interrogation program. To confirm or deny that fact would itself disclose classified information.”
The government is set to officially present its state secrets argument to the court on March 8. Former CIA officials John Rizzo and Jose Rodriguez are set to give their depositions in March, as well.
Mike Pompeo (centre) is sworn in as director of the Central Intelligence Agency by Vice President Mike Pence, at the White House in Washington. Gina Haspel, who was deeply involved in the torture of detainees and later took part in the destruction of videotapes of the brutal interrogations, was named deputy director of the CIA on Feb 2. (image: Doug Mills/The New York Times)On Thursday, Trump named Gina Haspel his deputy CIA director, agency head Mike Pompeo, saying:
“Gina is an exemplary intelligence officer and a devoted patriot who brings more than 30 years of Agency experience to the job. She is also a proven leader with an uncanny ability to get things done and to inspire those around her.”
“We are fortunate that someone of her intellect, skill, and experience will be our Deputy Director. I know she will do an outstanding job, and I look forward to working with her closely in the years ahead.”
She’s a modern-day Ilse Koch, wife of Karl Koch, Buchenwald concentration camp commandant from 1937 – 1941. Known as “the witch of Buchenwald” and similar pejoratives, survivors called her the camp’s “murderess,” notorious for sadistically abusing prisoners, taking pleasure in inflicting extreme cruelty.
Haspel is a career intelligence officer, the first woman to be named deputy CIA director. She ran an agency black site in Thailand, notorious for using torture during interrogations.
Post-9/11, she was instrumental in launching global black site torture prisons. Reportedly she was involved in destroying incriminating videotapes, showing torture at the facility she ran along with others.
Like all CIA operatives involved in torture, including top agency officials, she remains unaccountable for high crimes, rewarded instead of being prosecuted.
Candidate Trump said he’d “bring back waterboarding, and…a hell of a lot worse than” this technique…You have to fight fire with fire,” he blustered.
He should know by now that torture violates international and constitutional law. Besides, it doesn’t work, used more for control and punishment than to obtain information.
Defense Secretary Mattis earlier said he “never found it to be useful.” Trump said he’ll let him decide, explaining his view on torture hasn’t changed.
Does appointing Haspel deputy CIA director mean he intends authorizing torture as official administration policy, whether or not it’s used?
