Read my @ChicagoTribune op-ed on why Trump’s @CIA director nominee Gina Haspel’s reprehensible actions should disqualify her from becoming the next CIA director → trib.in/2IiVpnC
Haspel did not simply participate in torture—she supported brutal interrogations, ran a CIA black site in Thailand where at least 1 detainee was waterboarded & then attempted to obstruct justice by eliminating evidence of this torture
Haspel’s defenders suggest “she was just following orders” in directing the destruction of evidence of torture. That defense wouldn’t have protected me on the battlefield if the orders were illegal, and it shouldn’t protect a nominee to be CIA director
Torture is illegal, immoral and it does not work. As @SenJohnMcCain frequently says, torture is not about our enemies—it’s about us. We are a nation of laws and believe that all people, no matter how hateful or harmful, are entitled to human dignity
The torture program not only compromised our nation’s values, it helped recruit terrorists and put a much larger target on the backs of U.S. troops and diplomats working in the world’s most dangerous places
The Senate must defeat Haspel’s nomination & send a message to the rest of the world about the American values I fought to defend & our nation’s commitment to condemning torture & promoting human rights around the globe
