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Sen. Rand Paul: Why I can't support neocons Pompeo at State, Haspel at CIA and Bolton as NSA

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  krishna  •  6 years ago  •  4 comments

Sen. Rand Paul: Why I can't support neocons Pompeo at State, Haspel at CIA and Bolton as NSA

randpaulhaspel.jpg

Sen. Rand Paul: Why I can't support neocons Pompeo at State, Haspel at CIA and Bolton as NSA

The furthest thing from making America great again would be to allow the neocons to have even more influence.

The neocons have been so completely and regularly wrong for decades now that it’s almost unimaginable to believe they would ever be in a position to advise a president again – let alone to wield the kind of power they will have if they lead some of our nation’s most powerful institutions.

Yet the past week has brought such a resurgence of this failed ideology that you would be forgiven for thinking we had time-traveled back to 2003.

Since President Trump took office, we have removed unnecessary and overzealous regulations from the American people’s backs, cut taxes, revitalized the economy and installed constitutional conservatives throughout the federal judiciary – all great and much-needed changes. (Fox News)


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Krishna
Professor Expert
1  seeder  Krishna    6 years ago

The neocons have been so completely and regularly wrong for decades now that it’s almost unimaginable to believe they would ever be in a position to advise a president again – let alone to wield the kind of power they will have if they lead some of our nation’s most powerful institutions.

According to  published reports , Gina Haspel – who President Trump wants to become the next CIA director – oversaw one of the CIA’s notorious “black sites” in Thailand and was  directly involved  in the destruction of videos documenting the torture that took place there.  One former CIA official has also  stated  that she was “one of the architects, designers, implementers and one of the top two managers of the [Enhanced Interrogation Techniques program] and a true believer, by all accounts, in the ‘Global War in Terror’ paradigm.”

We’re not simply talking about a run-of-the-mill CIA agent here. Haspel was someone in a position of power who presided over practices that epitomized the abuse of that power. Allowing her to now run the CIA will only invite even more distrust and suspicion of what is going on behind the scenes at the agency.

Going forward, we should be able to know for sure that our CIA director should be someone who would refuse to allow certain methods because he or she knows them to be wrong – not just because they are illegal.

 
 
 
Krishna
Professor Expert
2  seeder  Krishna    6 years ago

Now Director Pompeo is the nominee to follow Rex Tillerson as our next secretary of state, and I still have the same concerns about Pompeo’s appointment as when I opposed his nomination to lead the CIA last year, especially his consistent defense of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) unconstitutional spying programs.

Pompeo even   called   in a 2016 op-ed for Congress to “pass a law re-establishing collection of all metadata, and combining it with publicly available financial and lifestyle information into a comprehensive, searchable database,” and he has previously   stated that   NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden should receive the death penalty.

I simply cannot support Pompeo’s nomination to be our chief diplomat.

 
 
 
Krishna
Professor Expert
3  seeder  Krishna    6 years ago

Rumors have also swirled that former Ambassador John Bolton is being considered for an important foreign policy position in the Trump administration. This would be a catastrophically bad idea.

Bolton has been for all of the wars Donald Trump has been against, most importantly the Iraq war. His policies would have been perfectly at home in a Hillary Clinton administration, but should have no place in President Trump’s White House. 

Most disturbingly, Bolton  recently called  for preemptive war against North Korea, a massive undertaking with potentially horrific consequences for millions. He has  doubled down  on the decision to overthrow Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, which I agree with President Trump only further destabilized the Middle East. And earlier this year, Bolton explicitly  stated , “Our goal should be regime change in Iran.” 

 
 
 
bbl-1
Professor Quiet
4  bbl-1    6 years ago

Pompeo is right inside the Trump orbit.  Is he a fetus worshipper too?

Bolton is perfect for Trump.  Besides, Trump needs an insider to the criminals in the MIC. 

 
 

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