McCain sets the right course — again
As GOP Sen. John McCain fights aggressive brain cancer at home in Arizona, the maverick senator continues to make himself heard. The country has reason to be grateful, with his words of opposition to CIA director nominee Gina Haspel influential enough — perhaps — to turn the tide against this unfortunate nomination.
Respecting Haspel’s impressive credentials but pointing out her weakness, the overseeing of U.S. “enhanced interrogation,” or torture, McCain’s straight talk once more could serve his country if enough senators listen to his sage advice. After all, as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, McCain learned firsthand about torture, something many other leaders in Washington — especially those who never served in the military and actively dodged the draft — cannot understand.
McCain’s statement on Haspel is respectful but honest: “I believe Gina Haspel is a patriot who loves our country and has devoted her professional life to its service and defense. However, Ms. Haspel’s role in overseeing the use of torture by Americans is disturbing. Her refusal to acknowledge torture’s immorality is disqualifying. I believe the Senate should exercise its duty of advice and consent and reject this nomination.”
Yes, the Senate should reject this nomination; both New Mexico senators have announced they will vote against Haspel’s appointment, and properly so. They should do so because the United States should not be a country that tortures captives or enemies. Practically speaking, torture does not deliver the results interrogators seek. Morally, it is wrong. It puts the U.S. on the side of tyrants and despots and falls short of our ideals.
In opposing Haspel, McCain is bucking his party but also showing how to disagree without being disagreeable, a tone that today’s Washington sorely needs.
Witness what happened after the influential senator made his opposition clear. A White House staffer, speaking in a closeddoor meeting, had this reaction: “He’s dying anyway.” That is a new low even for the White House that respects no boundaries and few people.
The staffer, identified as Kelly Sadler, has not apologized publicly for her crassness. Neither has the White House. That makes sense, in a twisted fashion. Candidate Donald Trump, if you remember, is the one who said of McCain’s Vietnam service, that: “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” Coming from someone who avoided the draft because of “bone spurs,” the comment was particularly galling.
McCain, on the other hand, attended the Naval Academy and became a Navy pilot. After being shot down in a bombing mission over Hanoi, he spent roughly 5½ years in a North Vietnamese prison, the infamous Hanoi Hilton. He was routinely tortured and served two years in solitary confinement. Trump, McCain said last September, never apologized. (No wonder McCain has made it clear he does not want Trump to attend his funeral.)
Today’s White House, in fact, appears more upset that the staffer’s poor excuse for a joke leaked to reporters than that it was made in the first place. That’s simply wrong. It’s wrong, too, to nominate a leader for the CIA who oversaw a torture program and who does not acknowledge that torture is immoral — as Sen. McCain rightly points out, the failure to do so is disqualifying. The confirmation vote for Haspel will be close, with McCain influencing the outcome from afar.
Even in the twilight of his life and career, McCain continues to set the standard of service. Would that others in Washington could rise to his level.