It would be a depressing discussion over beer as to which is worse, torture or covering up torture, because torture is a depressing subject regardless of how you approach it.
But that aside, and regardless of “just following orders” or “yeah, we checked with legal first” excuses, the argument below is spot on here: covering up torture makes future torture more likely, if not inevitable.
So does rewarding someone who did so with the top job in the agency.
Originally shared by +Robert Hansen:
“Gina Haspel.”
sigh
Believe it or not, her involvement in the enhanced interrogation program (or, as John McCain and I call it, the torture program) really isn’t enough to disqualify her. Shocking, I know.
No, the reason to oppose her nomination goes deeper than that, and is something worse than torture. Yes, worse than torture: something so foul it’s considered the truly unforgivable sin of the intelligence professional.
Rule Number One is thou shalt submit thyself for judgment. Everything the spook does the spook must be accountable for, somewhere, to someone. It might be to an oversight committee, it might be to a DOJ investigation, it might be to the Inspector General’s office, it might be to a civil lawsuit, it might be to a FOIA request.
In the absence of being judged, intelligence agencies spiral out of control. There is always a risk intelligence agencies will lose sight of American values. By passing judgment on their acts we force the agencies to stay connected to the touchstone of our principles. To lie to Congress, to destroy documents of a scandal, to help people escape our society’s judgment — these are the unforgivable sins of the intelligence professional.
Torturing someone is bad enough. But concealing a torture program from Congressional oversight is even worse, because it means we’ll keep on torturing. It means that incoming agents will hear about Bob who was quietly allowed to retire after something, as opposed to seeing Bob hanging in a gibbet by the front door with a plaque beneath reading “TORTURER”. Incoming agents notice things like that and adjust their conduct accordingly.
Gina Haspel made it hard to hold people accountable for the torture program.
That’s worse than torture. She should not be nominated as Director of the CIA.
C.I.A. Destroyed 2 Tapes Showing Interrogations
Despite requests and amid scrutiny about its secret detention program, the C.I.A. did not give the videotapes to a federal court hearing or to the Sept. 11 commission.
Reading these excerpts from her testimony doesn't make me feel any better:
1. She claims she would not do something immoral in the future because she was raised with a strong moral compass. But she is glad that the CIA has had a chance to think and realign its morality regarding torture. But she's not willing to say that the torture was immoral.
2. She supported destroying the tapes specifically because they showed the faces of CIA agents and there were concerns about the tapes leaking.
3. The CIA won't torture again on her watch, but only because it's had a chance to "think" and we're no longer worried about another 9/11 attack for some reason. (Presumably if there were another attack, then all bets would be off.)
Nope.