WASHINGTON, May 9, 2018. Gina Haspel, nominee for Director of Central Intelligence Agency, is sworn in to testify at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill. Ting Shen/ Press Association. All rights reserved.Gina Haspel’s nomination to be Director of the CIA has focused attention once more on the US’s use of torture, since her Commander in Chief, Donald Trump has lauded waterboarding (near-death by drowning/suffocation) and she is alleged to have supervised such activities against Al Qaeda suspects at an airbase in Thailand.
Her nomination further shows the political widening of the Atlantic as the EU is preparing its annual day to end impunity for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Both events can be enriched by a fuller awareness of the prosecution of these crimes in the 1940s.
She is reported to have reassured Senators that she will not permit such interrogation techniques if appointed, and is prepared to accept recent US legislation that outlaws waterboarding and the US Military manual that does not authorise it.
