How to Help America Move Away from Torture
The game of musical chairs continues for top national security positions in the Trump administration. The hawks are winning.
President Donald Trump recently replaced former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster with John Bolton (suspending any concerns he had about Bolton's mustache, not to mention Bolton's seeming desire to bomb both Iran and North Korea).
He also swapped Mike Pompeo, not exactly a friend of the Muslim community (or for that matter, peace or LGBTQ people or reproductive rights), for former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
This Wednesday, the Senate will hold a hearing with Gina Haspel, Trump's nominee to replace Pompeo at the helm of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Despite layers of CIA secrecy, lots of questions have been raised about the post-9/11 role Haspel may have played in the torture of prisoners, and the destruction of tapes documenting their interrogations.
Members of Congress, the press and the public are now asking whether she was more than just, in Trump's words, "too tough on terrorists."
How to help stop Gina Haspel’s CIA confirmation
Read ProPublica's report on Gina Haspel's role in one CIA interrogation.
While little is known of Gina Haspel's overall role in the American torture program (because of classification of CIA documents), one excerpt from this ProPublica report about an interrogation she supervised is enough to give pause:
"But any bravado had disappeared well before [Prisoner Abd al-Rahim al-] Nashiri’s CIA captors strapped him naked to a hospital gurney in a windowless white cell and began pouring water into his nose and mouth until he felt he was drowning. He pleaded with them to stop. They continued. ... Nashiri was slammed repeatedly against a wall, locked up in a tiny “confinement box” and told (inaccurately) that the black-clad security officers guarding him were Navy sailors who would pummel him if he did not divulge his secrets. One interrogator told Nashiri he needed to be “tenderized” like a piece of meat."
Tell Congress to stop Gina Haspel's CIA confirmation.
Over the weekend, Haspel offered to withdraw from consideration. You can contact your senator and House representative at 202.224.3121 to let them know that might be a good idea. Indivisible has a great phone script.
Join a protest to oppose Gina Haspel's CIA confirmation.
The "Prosecution Not Promotion" protest, hosted by more than a dozen groups, will take place outside the Hart Senate Office Building (120 Constitution Ave. NE) on Wednesday, May 9 at 8:30am.
Support the groups standing against torture.
The Justice for Muslims Collective, MPower Change, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Witness Against Torture, CODEPINK, and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture are all showing up against Gina Haspel's nomination and against torture.
Get updates on Gina Haspel’s CIA nomination via Twitter.
Follow the #StopHaspel hashtag on Twitter for fast-moving updates on Haspel's nomination.
