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Torture-tainted nominations of Pompeo and Haspel recall failure to prosecute Bush-era abuses

Nat Parry
Consortium News
Wed, 14 Mar 2018 20:50 UTC
Pompeo
© Flickr: Gage SkidmoreMike Pompeo speaking at the 2012 CPAC in Washington, DC, February 2012.


The declining human rights standards on display with the Haspel and Pompeo nominations are the latest in a long line of policy failures that include the Obama administration's lack of prosecutions of Bush-era torture, Nat Parry notes.

President Donald Trump's nominations of Gina Haspel to lead the CIA and Mike Pompeo to be America's top diplomat are the latest indications of steadily eroding human rights standards in the United States and the rollback of the rule of law that has characterized U.S. counterterrorism policies since Sept. 11, 2001.

President Donald Trump chooses CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State, and Gina Haspel to replease Pompeo as the CIA's first female director.

Haspel, a CIA operative who oversaw the torture of terrorism suspects at a secret prison in Thailand and then helped destroy tapes of the interrogations, and Pompeo, who has made statements in support of torture and mass surveillance, are both expected to be confirmed by the Senate with little fanfare.

After all, when Pompeo was nominated for his current post of CIA Director his confirmation sailed through the Senate on a vote of 66-32. This, despite what Human Rights Watch's Maria McFarland Sanchez-Moreno called "dangerously ambiguous" responses to questions about torture and mass surveillance.

Gina Haspel
© CIA / ReutersGina Haspel, a veteran CIA clandestine officer picked by U.S. President Donald Trump to head the Central Intelligence Agency.

Comment: More on the background of these two sinister characters:

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Beaker

SOTT Focus: Paranoia in Full Bloom: British Government Goes Full Retard in Desperate Effort to Frame Russia for 'Chemical Weapons Attack'

Harrison Koehli
Sott.net
Thu, 15 Mar 2018 18:25 UTC
meme prueba putin skripal
My, how the mighty have fallen. In presenting hasty ultimatums to Russia then taking unilateral punitive measures, the British government is skirting dangerously close to inciting war, itself defined as a war crime under international law. The latest developments in the 'Russian chemical weapons attack' scandal reflect terribly on Theresa May's government, and any other government that sides with it.

The UK still refuses to hand over samples of the alleged nerve agent to Russia for testing. This violates standard Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) procedures. As Lavrov pointed out, the Convention Prohibiting the Use of Chemical Weapons states that where a country is suspected of using a chemical weapon, 10 days' notice must be given for the accused country to respond and the offending substance handed over. Instead, the British government just skipped over that part and plans to send the sample directly to the OPCW. It will be interesting to hear what they have to say, given that the OPCW last year verified that Russia has destroyed its entire chemical weapons stock and production capabilities (something the U.S., Israel, and the UK have yet to do.)

NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg has piped up to state that the Salisbury incident represents a challenge to NATO, characterizing it as "the first ever case of a nerve agent being used against a NATO country." His implied message was that this serves as grounds for the activation of Article 5 of the NATO treaty ('an attack on one member is an attack on all'.) Stoltenberg may want to get a show of hands from NATO members and their populations on how they feel about going to war with Russia.
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Eye 2

'Just Following Orders': Fmr Obama NSC Spokesperson Defends CIA Director Haspel's Torture History

Andrew Kugle
Washington Free Beacon
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 20:39 UTC
gina haspel
© Associated Press"Bloody Gina" Haspel is ‘accused of running a CIA facility in Thailand when a Saudi terrorist suspect was subjected to waterboarding’.
Ned Price, former spokesperson for the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Council under President Barack Obama, on Tuesday defended President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the CIA.

President Donald Trump announced on Twitter Tuesday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson would be replaced by CIA Director Mike Pompeo, and Pompeo in turn would be replaced by CIA Deputy Director Gina Haspel.

Haspel is expected to face questions about her time in the CIA's former covert program under which suspected terrorists were interrogated. The methods of interrogation included waterboarding.

MSNBC anchor Ali Velshi asked Malcom Nance, former intelligence officer and MSNBC analyst, about Haspel and Trump both supporting enhance interrogation.
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Cell Phone

Trump lies to Trudeau and brags about it: President's bizarre confession sends Twitter into overdrive


RT
Thu, 15 Mar 2018 13:50 UTC
trudeau and trump
© Jonathan Ernst / ReutersTrump’s Trudeau lie: President’s bizarre confession sends Twitter into overdrive
Canada's prime minister Justin Trudeau and US president Donald Trump.

Twitter has exploded over reports US President Donald Trump used a fundraising speech with donors to brag about lying to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trump was referring to supposed trade deficits.

According to the Washington Post, audio obtained of the speech reveals how Trump told a fundraiser on Wednesday that he made up trade statistics with America's closest ally. Trump's recounting of his meeting with Trudeau suggests the president lied to his political ally about trade without knowing the facts.

Comment: Sounds more like typical Trump getting rather braggadocious in one of his talks. The fact is, he probably knew Trudeau was wrong, as he explains above. BTW, Trudeau is an idiot:

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Bandaid

Skripal crisis: Theresa May fires a blank shot - measures will hurt UK, not Russia

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Wed, 14 Mar 2018 20:21 UTC
Theresa May Colin Powell
After days of hysteria and of mounting speculation, and after having stoked up by her statement on Monday expectations of stern action against Russia to stratospheric levels, Theresa May produced a package of 'sanctions' today which do no more than expose the weakness of Britain's hand.

This is how the BBC describes them
  • The expulsion of 23 diplomats - who have one week to leave
  • Increased checks on private flights, customs and freight
  • The freezing of Russian state assets where there is evidence they may be used to threaten the life or property of UK nationals or residents
  • Ministers and Royal Family to boycott the Fifa World Cup in Russia later this year
  • The suspension of all planned high level bi-lateral contacts between the UK and Russia
Note that none of these sanctions include any of the supposedly draconian steps which have been spoken about over the last few days.

Theresa May for example appeared to rule out a blanket visa ban and sweeping asset freezes on wealthy Russians coming to London. It is clear that ideas for a boycott by the England team of the World Cup in Russia and for the complete severing of diplomatic relations with Russia have been abandoned if they were ever considered.

Comment: Hopefully, one day in the near future NATO-member countries will realize that there is literally nothing they can do to realistically damage Russia without damaging themselves even more - not economically, not militarily, and less and less in terms of information war.

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Eye 1

BoJo says UK will finally hand over 'evidence' to independent body "to give them the opportunity to confirm our analysis"


RT
Thu, 15 Mar 2018 19:52 UTC
Boris Johnson
© Daniel Leal-Olivas / AFPBoris Johnson
Boris Johnson has said the UK will allow for an independent international examination of the nerve agent which was used in the attack on the former double agent Sergei Skripal.

Writing in Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, the UK Foreign Minister said the poisoning of the former spy was part of a "pattern of lawless behavior" by Russia. He also announced that the UK government will give international experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in the Hague the opportunity to review Britain's analysis of the poison which left Skripal and his daughter Yulia in critical condition in hospital on March 4.

"[We are working] to give them the opportunity to confirm our analysis independently," Johnson wrote. Meanwhile, Britain's National Security Adviser Mark Sedwill has told the Western NATO alliance that attack is an issue for all NATO members. Sedwill accused Moscow of attempting to murder Skripal in Salisbury, adding that the UK "will support allies who face similar threats."

Comment: See Also:

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Bad Guys

Invoking the myth of a neo-imperial China

Pepe Escobr
Asia Times
Wed, 14 Mar 2018 19:56 UTC
Chinese President Xi Jinping
© Reuters/Lintao ZhangChinese President Xi Jinping attends the Roundtable Summit Phase One Sessions of the Belt and Road Forum.
New Silk Road infrastructure projects could bring back a peaceful and prosperous Eurasia

The geopolitical focus of the still young 21st century spans the Indian Ocean from the Persian Gulf all the way to the South China Sea alongside the spectrum from Southwest Asia to Central Asia and China.

That happens to configure the prime playing ground, overland and maritime, of the New Silk Roads, or the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The epicenter of global power shifting East is ruffling feathers in some US political circles - with a proliferation of parochial analyses ranging from Chinese "imperial overstretch" to Xi Jinping's Chinese Dream provoking "nightmares."

The basic argument is that Emperor Xi is aiming for a global power grab by mythologizing the New Silk Roads.

Comment: China is going forward with its win-win policy regardless of how much the West opposes it. Some of the countries lined up to benefit from China's vision:

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Document

Feinstein asks CIA to declassify Gina Haspel post 9-11 torture program before confirmation


RT
Thu, 15 Mar 2018 18:54 UTC
Sen. Dianne Feinstein
© Aaron Bernstein / ReutersSen. Dianne Feinstein
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) has asked the CIA to declassify documents related to Deputy Director Gina Haspel's reported involvement in the agency's post-September 11 torture program.

Trump has tapped Haspel to take over as the agency's next director after current director Mike Pompeo leaves to replace Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State.

"As we move forward with the nomination process for Ms. Haspel, my fellow senators and I must have the complete picture of Ms. Haspel's involvement in the program in order to fully and fairly review her record and qualifications,"Feinstein wrote in a letter to Pompeo and Haspel.

Haspel was reportedly intimately involved with the Bush-era torture program, overseeing a secret US "black site" in Thailand where prisoners were abused and waterboarded. She also participated in the destruction of videotapes of the torture sessions.

Comment: See also: 'Godmother of torture should be in dock at The Hague, not directing CIA', says whistleblower

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Stop

House Intel Committee ending Russia Probe, no collusion found

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 05:10 UTC
President Trump
© wunc.orgPresident Donald Trump -- It's over
Update 2: President Trump has responded (in ALL CAPS!)

Update 1: Rep. Schiff has responded to the Intel Committee report (via @ChadPergram) :
"The House Majority has announced it is terminating the Russia investigation, leaving to others the important work of determining the full extent of Russian interference in our election."

"By ending its oversight role in the only authorized investigation in the House, the Majority has placed the interests of protecting the President over protecting the country, and history will judge its actions harshly."

"The Majority was not willing to pursue the facts wherever they would lead, would prove afraid to compel witnesses like Steve Bannon, Hope Hicks, Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump Jr, Corey Lewandowski... to answer questions relevant to our investigation."

"Ironically, even while they close down the Russia investigation, they plan to continue trying to put our own government on trial: this is a great service to the President, and a profound disservice to the country."

"It is not Mueller's job to tell the American people what happened, that is our job, and the Majority has walked away from it."

"If the Russians do have leverage over the President..the Majority has simply decided it would rather not know."

Comment: As one investigative door closes...another opens. Maybe this time it will include indictments for real conspirators. Whatever the case, the 'dog and pony' will show us what they want us to see...and we shall look further.

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Blue Planet

Trump hits global reset button, Paris to Pyongyang

Sebastian Gorka
The Hill
Sat, 10 Mar 2018 09:00 UTC
TrumpCapitolEar
© Infowars
For a man who has been in the public limelight for more than 30 years, it is remarkable how little Donald Trump is properly understood, simply because he is now the president of the United States and no longer a real-estate magnate and media celebrity.

When I was in the White House, and even today, if ever I am asked to help explain the way President Trump thinks and acts, I always start with the same advice: Read The Art of the Deal. For diplomats, journalists or simply the unconvinced, this is the quickest and most accurate way of understanding just how much America changed when we chose the iconoclastic non-politician for the highest office in the land.

Recent decisions from the Oval Office, especially on steel and aluminum tariffs, as well as the developments out of the Korean peninsula, underscore the enormity of the shift in the American politics and our role in the world as a nation which shapes geopolitics as opposed to just riding along its wavetops and being buffeted by events.

One of the earliest declarative statements from The Art of the Deal is the advice Donald Trump gives that you should never ever be so invested in a yet-to-be-sealed deal that you cannot walk away from it at any juncture. This attitude informed President Trump for nigh on half a century in the private sector, and it still informs his decisions today as president, from the Paris Accord to NAFTA.


Comment: As with all administrations, some moves are good, some great, some - not so great. The move of the embassy to Jerusalem remains in the negative column as is the cozying up to Israel and the influence and leadership positions occupied by neocons in Trump's administration. Change ups seem to be President Trump's calling card, his ace in the hole.

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