Gina Haspel, a 33-year CIA veteran, “who oversaw a secret prison in Thailand in 2002,” was lambasted by Senate Democrats on the Intelligence Committee for torturing war criminals. Haspel has been nominated by Trump to lead the CIA.
Democrats ever eager to make every presidential selection unnecessarily difficult to confirm have gone too far in the Haspel affair. Questioning dedicated soldiers and spies, like Haspel, years after they bravely served the country is a travesty. It’s especially irksome when so many of the interrogators never were in harm’s way themselves.
Clearly Democrats are only interested in embarrassing the president, the primary front of the opposition party. In this ignoble quest they did not put Hampel’s service record into proper perspective.
The CIA operative was on the leading edge of efforts to uncover intelligence about Al Qaeda’s intentions shortly after the 9/11 attacks. For those of you with short memories, radical Islamists invaded the US. Thousands of Americans lost their lives when Middle East terrorists hijacked four airplanes and crashed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Mass hysteria overwhelmed the country at the time, and Americans were demanding retribution. How could men with box cutters commandeer planes and use them as weapons of mass destruction? The government did whatever necessary to ensure that the onslaught was over. Gathering intelligence about the intentions of Al Qaeda was a cornerstone of the effort to defend the country.
After some important terrorists were captured, they were aggressively interviewed using certain techniques that have since been labeled torture. But there’s an important issue that Democrats adamantly refuse to acknowledge- these interrogation activities were deemed to be legal by the Bush administration and his Justice Department at the time. Haspel was among the operatives who employed the aforementioned techniques, like waterboarding.
Why are these political hacks questioning the morality of Haspel 17 years later for activities that were endorsed by her superiors including the Commander-In-Chief? It should be noted she played no role in the creation of associated legal arguments.
Frankly this un-American and dishonorable inquisition by politicians is no different than interrogating soldiers after they return from combat.
To be clear the issue of using aggressive interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, is now illegal, as are certain other methods. And as far as average Americans know, neither spies nor US soldiers are employing them. If they were, the perpetrators along with the superiors that authorized them would and should be punished.
Haspel was doing her job trying to uncover intelligence that could possibly save American lives. Never did she break the law.
Senate Democrats also delved into the morality of using aggressive interrogation, setting off a philosophical discussion that was moot. The government and the legal system have indicated that aggressive interrogation is illegal, effectively making it immoral. Haspel’s personal feelings are not germane to her confirmation.
Democrats are barking up the wrong tree. Haspel said she would not employ aggressive interrogation even if it were now deemed legal. Rightly so, she will not take blame or allow others to be criticized for serving their country in 2001.
If Democrats want to rehash history, instead of working on current problems, they should direct their attention to George W. Bush and his lawyers who green-lighted waterboarding and such.
Once again Democrats are proving that their most important mission is to destroy a sitting president with bogus investigations and inane questioning of political appointees. The voters should take note of these tragedies in the impending elections.