The CIA Gives a Highly Sanitized View of Gina Haspel While Keeping Her Torture Record Secret
While the CIA has been trying to salvage Gina Haspel鈥檚 rocky nomination to lead the agency with a series of and by making public only flattering bits of her record, the American people have to reckon with a nominee whose role in torture and the destruction of torture evidence is still shrouded in secrecy.
The CIA positive stories about Haspel, hailing her as a trailblazer, consummate professional, dedicated agent, and Johnny Cash fan. At the same time, the agency won鈥檛 release full information about the most important and contentious parts of Haspel鈥檚 record.
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to the CIA this week, protesting that it has continued to hide Haspel 鈥渂ehind a wall of secrecy鈥� while suppressing 鈥渄isturbing facts about her record.鈥� Sen. Heinrich also that the agency appeared to be 鈥渞unning a full-on propaganda campaign鈥� in support of her nomination, while 鈥渨ithholding鈥� key information.
While the CIA has that it is 鈥渃ommitted to transparency,鈥� it has so far only granted senators 鈥� and not the public 鈥� access to some classified information about Haspel. Last week, the CIA disclosed a 2011 memo 鈥� written by a former CIA official of excusing torture 鈥� which supposedly cleared Haspel of responsibility for the destruction of evidence documenting the brutal torture of a man in CIA custody in 2002. But the CIA shouldn鈥檛 get to cherry-pick which documents it will declassify 鈥� while hiding the most important torture records.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has also pushed back against the agency鈥檚 handling of Haspel鈥檚 nomination and a copy of a special prosecutor鈥檚 report that addressed the destruction of evidence of torture.
In fact, what we already know is disturbing enough: Haspel鈥檚 role in supervising the CIA鈥檚 torture program 鈥� and participating in the cover-up of torture videos 鈥� is not in question.
One former CIA official told The Daily Beast that Haspel 鈥�.鈥� Haspel for the torture of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri at a CIA black site in Thailand. According to the , al-Nashiri was 鈥渟ubjected to the waterboard at least three times.鈥� Furthermore, The Daily Beast confirmed that Haspel 鈥溾�� 鈥� even if not physically present 鈥� during the earlier interrogations of Abu Zubaydah.
The horrific details of what took place in the CIA prison in Thailand can 鈥� and should 鈥� be read by everyone. They are detailed in a lengthy Senate report of the CIA torture program that can be found . Page after page describes the sadistic crimes perpetrated by the CIA on Abu Zubaydah, using the CIA鈥檚 own emails and cables, including this from a CIA email:
In at least one waterboarding session, Abu Zubaydah 鈥榖ecame completely unresponsive, with bubbles rising through his open, full mouth. According to CIA records, Abu Zubaydah remained unresponsive until medical intervention, when he regained consciousness and expelled 鈥榗opious amounts of liquid.鈥�
In all, Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times over the course of a month. That was in addition to being regularly stripped naked, slammed face first into a wall, denied sleep, and stuffed into a coffin-like box for hours on end. In a program in which Haspel was a supervisor, Abu Zubaydah鈥檚 torture became a template for the torture program going forward.
When the 老澳门开奖结果 filed a lawsuit against the two psychologists who designed the torture program, the defense the judge to order Haspel 鈥渢o provide a deposition discussing her allegedly pivotal involvement in an episode the CIA has tried repeatedly to put behind it.鈥� The federal government, supported by a statement from then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo, stepped in to assert 鈥渟tate secrets鈥� and blocked Haspel from being deposed.
Even the internal CIA memo released by the CIA last week, which excuses Haspel for her role in the destruction of 93 videotapes documenting Abu Zubaydah鈥檚 torture, confirms that she drafted the cable ordering the destruction of the tapes. to then-acting CIA general counsel John Rizzo, Haspel was one of the 鈥渟taunchest advocates inside the building for destroying the tapes,鈥� lobbying Rizzo on a near weekly basis for their disposal.
This is the history that the CIA needs to tell us more about. Rather than selectively picking documents and anecdotes, the agency must declassify and come clean about Haspel鈥檚 complete role in the torture program 鈥� and its cover-up.
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Press ReleaseDec 2024
Free Speech
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老澳门开奖结果 and Partners Urge Supreme Court to Block TikTok Ban老澳门开奖结果 and Partners Urge Supreme Court to Block TikTok Ban
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Press ReleaseDec 2024
National Security
Religious Liberty
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VirginiaDec 2024
National Security
Trabelsi v. Crawford, et al. 鈥� Lawsuit Challenging Unlawful Detention and Inhumane Treatment of Acquitted ManTrabelsi v. Crawford, et al. 鈥� Lawsuit Challenging Unlawful Detention and Inhumane Treatment of Acquitted Man
Our client, Nizar Trabelsi, is in the United States against his will. The federal government brought him here from Belgium more than a decade ago and charged him with terrorism-related crimes. At trial, the government鈥檚 case failed: a federal jury found Mr. Trabelsi not guilty. But instead of allowing Mr. Trabelsi to return to Belgium after his acquittal, the United States placed him in highly restrictive immigration detention and began an ongoing effort to force him to Tunisia, where he was born and where he will very likely be tortured. Mr. Trabelsi鈥檚 detention violates the Constitution, immigration law, and the extradition treaty between the United States and Belgium. Through this lawsuit, he seeks to return to Belgium, and he demands an immediate improvement of his detention conditions. -
Press ReleaseDec 2024
National Security
Immigrants' Rights
Federal Judge Rejects Acquitted Man鈥檚 Argument That His Immigration Detention Is UnlawfulFederal Judge Rejects Acquitted Man鈥檚 Argument That His Immigration Detention Is Unlawful
ALEXANDRIA, Va. 鈥� This week, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that the court does not have jurisdiction to decide whether the government can continue to detain Nizar Trabelsi, a Tunisian national who was brought to the United States against his will for prosecution and was cleared of all charges last year. The ruling means the United States will be able to continue to detain Mr. Trabelsi while it attempts to deport him to Tunisia, where he was born and where, as an immigration judge ruled earlier this year, he will likely face torture. The court also concluded that even if it did have jurisdiction over Mr. Trabelsi鈥檚 case, his claims challenging the government鈥檚 detention of him would fail. 鈥淩eviewing claims that the government is holding someone unlawfully is at the core of the judicial function, and we鈥檙e heartbroken for our client that the court got this so wrong,鈥� said Brett Max Kaufman, senior staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Center for Democracy. 鈥淭he government鈥檚 arguments in defense of Mr. Trabelsi鈥檚 detention makes a hash of the Constitution, immigration laws, and its own extradition treaty.鈥� In 2013, the United States forcibly extradited Mr. Trabelsi from Belgium to face criminal charges in the United States. In July 2023, after almost 10 years of highly restrictive pretrial detention, a federal jury cleared Mr. Trabelsi of all charges. But instead of releasing Mr. Trabelsi or returning him to Belgium, the U.S. transferred him to immigration detention, wrongly treating him as an applicant for admission and placing him in the deportation process. Over the years, the Belgian government has issued multiple formal diplomatic requests asking the U.S. to facilitate his return, but the U.S. has refused to send him back. Mr. Trabelsi filed a lawsuit challenging the government's authority to detain him. He also sought immediate improvements to his detention conditions. Those claims were not part of the court鈥檚 ruling today, and will continue to be litigated on a separate track. 鈥淢r. Trabelsi only wants to return to Belgium after being illegally extradited to the United States, held for ten years, and then acquitted by a jury of any crimes,鈥� said Nicole Hallett, clinical professor of law and director of the Immigrants鈥� Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School. 鈥淗e cannot be held indefinitely and we will continue to fight to make sure that justice ultimately prevails.鈥� Mr. Trabelsi is represented by the 老澳门开奖结果, the University of Chicago Law School鈥檚 Immigrants鈥� Rights Clinic, the 老澳门开奖结果 of Virginia, and Professor Jonathan Hafetz of Seton Hall Law School. The complaint in Trabelsi v. Crawford was filed against Jeffrey Crawford, warden of the Farmville Detention Center where Mr. Trabelsi is being held; Liana Castano, ICE field office director for the Washington Field Office; Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; and Merrick Garland, U.S. attorney general.