Gina Haspel is under consideration by the Senate to head the CIA. How will our two Utah senators, Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee, vote on her confirmation, to occur later this week? They must be aware of her history, recently brought to light by David Irvine in his Salt Lake Tribune commentary.
Irvine is an attorney, a former Army strategic intelligence officer and a retired Army brigadier general. He wrote in his usual erudite style of Haspel’s role in “senior operational positions within CIA that governed the rendition and interrogation program,” including the torture of prisoners, and her approval of the destruction of 92 videotapes documenting torture of detainees by CIA officers.
Irvine does not question Haspel’s competence. But her “judgment and fitness,” her complicity in a program characterized as a “moral abomination and a national security fiasco,” should deny her nomination.
Will our senators fall into lock step with President Trump’s nomination? Have they done their appropriate research, including Irvine’s op-ed? Will their votes reflect their constituents’ opinions? I urge people to call Sen. Hatch at 202-224-5251 and Sen. Lee at 202-224-5444 to express their opinions.
Tom Metcalf, Murray