The new CIA torturer-in-chief may already have an outstanding warrant

You gotta give Trump credit, he isn't going to let little things like criminal behavior get in the way of what he wants. In this case he's making a big deal of having the first woman Torturer/CIA director.

n 2002, Haspel was present, in a supervising role, at a “black site” in Thailand where an individual named Abu Zubaydah—believed to be a top al-Qaida official—was tortured. Zubaydah was waterboarded, slammed against a wall, and confined in a “coffin-like” box. As ProPublica reported in 2017, though, “CIA analysts were wrong when they had identified Zubaydah as the number three or four in al-Qaida after Osama bin Laden. The waterboarding failed to elicit valuable intelligence not because he was holding back, but because he was not a member of al-Qaida, and had no knowledge of any plots against the United States.”
...He remains imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay and, as the New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins has noted, lost his left eye at some point after being captured under circumstances that remain unclear.

Zubaydah vomited, passed out and urinated on himself while shackled. During one waterboarding session, Zubaydah lost consciousness and bubbles began gurgling from his mouth. Medical personnel on the scene had to revive him. Haspel allowed the most brutal interrogations by the CIA to continue for nearly three weeks even though, as the cables sent from Thailand to the agency’s headquarters repeatedly stated, “subject has not provided any new threat information or elaborated on any old threat information.”

At one point, Haspel spoke directly with Zubaydah, accusing him of faking symptoms of physical distress and psychological breakdown. In a scene described in a book written by one of the interrogators, [Haspel] came to his cell and “congratulated him on the fine quality of his acting.”

Yes, Hapel is a wonderful human being. Is she a sociopath, or a psychopath?
You decide.

Now here's the part you may not know about.

Federal prosecutors in Munich are currently reviewing a request to issue an arrest warrant for Gina Haspel, President Donald Trump‘s recently named director of the Central Intelligence Agency (“CIA”).
...Haspel’s tenure as “Chief of Base” at the prison–and what she did while serving in that role–is the subject of the arrest warrant request.
On June 6, 2017, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (“ECCHR”) initiated a request for legal action against Haspel by filing an intervention with the German Federal Public Prosecutor, the foremost law enforcement authority in the Federal Republic of Germany. This office is led by Attorney General Peter Frank.
ECCHR’s legal intervention was made by way of a 6-page document titled, “CIA Torture: Submission on Gina Haspel to German Federal Prosecutor.” Immediately after ECCHR submitted their request, Frank’s office confirmed that this request was received and was being formally reviewed.
...
In a statement, ECCHR’s General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck said:

Those who commit, order or allow torture should be brought before a court – this is especially true for senior officials from powerful nations. The prosecutor must, under the principle of universal jurisdiction, open investigations, secure evidence and seek an arrest warrant. If the deputy director travels to Germany or Europe, she must be arrested.

The CIA’s torture program has been admitted to by former President Barack Obama, in official U.S. government reports, various high-level officials, whistleblowers and participants. Initially denied, the torture program’s existence and Haspel’s role in said program are now a matter of public record.

Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see the CIA director being arrested and standing trial for human right violations.
In 2009, Obama announced blanket immunity for any and all U.S. officials engaged in the Bush administration’s torture program, despite it being against U.S. law.

So what do you think the Dems think about such a putrid human being?

Sen. John Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the intelligence committee, predicted that Haspel would go through a "robust confirmation process" but he did not offer any hint that he would oppose her nomination.
"I feel like ... I’ve had a very good working relationship with her as the deputy director,” Warner said.
...
Feinstein said she's had concerns with Haspel in the past because of "her connection to the CIA torture program." Still, Feinstein said Haspel appears to have done a good job in her current post.
"To the best of my knowledge she has been a good deputy director and I look forward to the opportunity to speak with her again," Feinstein said.

That's the Feinstein I know.

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Bisbonian's picture

than to see the CIA director being arrested and standing trial for human right violations.

Right with you on that one.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

Amanda Matthews's picture

@Bisbonian @Bisbonian

from bush**/cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz clear down through Obama/Clinton to the new bunch Trump & Co. strapped to a piece of lumber myself. While having YUGE buckets of ice cold water poured on their faces and AC/DC blaring in the background.

Hey! If you’re just daydreaming might as well go for the gold.

Because none of these people will ever get what they deserve,

EDIT: thgyd?/their

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

@Bisbonian

And they won't do to her or her ilk the cruelly sick stuff she/they had done to others to force confessions of whatever she wanted to hear, despite their innocence. The guy lost a freaking eye! And is innocent and what recompense has he and others like him had? Not that this horror could ever be made up for...

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Song of the lark's picture

A little known urban legend is that women make the best terrorists.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

@Song of the lark

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
So-oldier of the Queen!

http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/young_british_soldier.html

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

Meteor Man's picture

Still, Feinstein said Haspel appears to have done a good job in her current post. "To the best of my knowledge she has been a good deputy director

She's punctual, always answers her emails and finishes her To Do list every day. Her comprehensive skill set at torture is only a minor PR problem.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Bollox Ref's picture

on her wiki page...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gina_Haspel

So all is good.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

snoopydawg's picture

We just had an election where one candidates was under investigation by the FBI and the other one was being sued for corruption and now we're nominating a confirmed torturer who has a warrant for her arrest.

Congress says that she's going to be facing some very tuff questions before she's confirmed. I'd rather see her facing prison time than being promoted to run the CIA.

When a country is this corrupt, the rule of law gets thrown out the window and everyone gets in on the act. This is what's happening with the Trump administration. It didn't start with him of course, but they are not even trying to hide their corruption like others did.

Haspel is a sociopath. Either word works, but I'm thinking this is the correct term. Only in 3rd world countries. Or banana republics.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Bisbonian's picture

@snoopydawg

and now we're nominating a confirmed torturer who has a warrant for her arrest.

Who else could possibly be more qualified, to lead the most murderous organization on the planet?

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

dervish's picture

@Bisbonian which used to be the exclusive preserve of men. Who knows, maybe going forward more serial killers, school shooters and war criminals will be women, because of role models like Gina.

Progress.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

TheOtherMaven's picture

John Warner was an EX-Senator from Virginia, a Republican, and "Mr. Elizabeth Taylor the Nth".

We were, frankly, better off with him.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

The Aspie Corner's picture

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

Hillbilly Dem's picture

I will always remember an interview that I watched about 20 years ago. One of the Army's top interrogators in the European theater of operations in WWII was asked about their techniques when questioning POWs who might have helpful information. He said that they didn't ever consider torture because it was immoral and unbelievably ineffective.

He said that they got more information from German officer POWs over a game of chess and a cup of coffee than even they could have imagined.

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"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey

@Hillbilly Dem

He said that they didn't ever consider torture because it was immoral and unbelievably ineffective.

The incentive of torture isn't to tell the truth.
The incentive is to say whatever you think the torturer wants to hear, in order to stop the torture.
So yeh, torture will get someone to talk. They'll say just about anything. It will rarely be useful though.

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Bisbonian's picture

@gjohnsit , to bolster the propaganda narrative desired by the interrogator.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

@Hillbilly Dem for an American to even consider. Sit down and talk? No way man, we're number 1 for a reason, we're not going to just sit down and talk when we can torture and bomb!

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur