No torture
Haspel’s hearings make clear: It is un-American
The nomination of Gina Haspel to lead the CIA has yielded an important public benefit: Another reckoning with America’s shameful practice of torture — and a renewed declaration that torture is not only against American moral values, but also an ineffective way to extract information from a captured terrorist.
Ms. Haspel, a 33-year veteran of the agency, has spent much of her career in clandestine service. Critics have pointed to her role overseeing a CIA secret prison in Thailand in late 2002. Before she arrived, a high-value al-Qaida member was tortured extensively at the black site, by waterboarding and other methods. Waterboarding continued during her time in charge. Moreover, she has been linked with the destruction of videotapes of torture sessions.
The details of these incidents may never be fully known to the public. They are secret by their nature and sometimes selectively released to shade the story. But by all accounts, Ms. Haspel worked in compliance with the methods approved by the Justice Department in the tense months after 9/11. A sworn officer, she did not go rogue.
Now serving as deputy director of the CIA, Ms. Haspel has received broad support from intelligence professionals for her nomination. She did everyone a favor with her unambiguous statements in Wednesday’s Senate testimony. “I can offer you my personal commitment, clearly and without reservation, that under my leadership, CIA will not restart [a] detention and interrogation program” that has been renounced, she said. “We’re not getting back into that business.”
In the popular imagination, inflicting maximum pain on a vile killer appeals to the desire for revenge. Movies and TV shows exaggerate the idea that a committed jihadist will break under the pressure and reveal the secret plans for an imminent attack. Some CIA officials, such as Ms. Haspel’s former boss Jose Rodriguez, have contended that “enhanced interrogation techniques” yielded worthwhile information that “saved American lives.”
But the prevailing view among seasoned professionals and top military officers is best expressed by James Mattis, the former Marine general who serves as secretary of defense: “Give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers . ... I do better with that than I do with torture.” It’s his folksy way to describe a serious matter. Information derived from torture is not reliable. Building rapport with the prisoner is the better technique.
Those remarks by Mr. Mattis were made in November 2016 and quoted by then President-elect Donald Trump, who had just nominated him to run the Pentagon. Though during the heat of the campaign Mr. Trump had been an advocate for waterboarding, or even “a hell of a lot worse,” the wisdom of Mr. Mattis has prevailed.
Whether or not she becomes CIA director, Ms. Haspel’s views on torture as expressed Wednesday should be a reminder to anyone who tries bring back a senseless idea. There’s also the Counterinsurgency Field Manual for the U.S. Army and Marines: “Torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment is never a morally permissible option, even if lives depend on gaining information,” it says. “Lose moral legitimacy, lose the war.”