Rand Paul Blasts Trump for Appointing “War Loving” Neocons, Threatens to Filibuster Nominees
“I’m perplexed by the nomination of people who love the Iraq War so much that they would advocate for a war with Iran next,” Rand Paul said.
By Rachel Blevins
TheFreeThoughtProject.com
March 14, 2018
In response to President Trump’s nominations, Sen. Rand Paul is threatening a filibuster, in order to keep Mike Pompeo from becoming the secretary of state and Gina Haspel from becoming the director of the CIA.
Paul said during a press conference that he would do everything in his power to prevent the nominees from assuming their prospective roles. His reasoning stems from Pompeo’s fervor for regime change wars in the Middle East, and Haspel’s experience as the head of a CIA “black site” prison in Thailand.
“People complain sometimes about the filibuster—they complain about trying to obstruct. I think the debate over whether or not America is a country in favor of torture or not is an important one,” Paul said. “I’m going to do everything I can to block them.”
Paul said that his opposition to Haspel becoming the director of the CIA stems from her “direct participation in interrogation” and her “gleeful enjoyment at the suffering of someone being tortured.”
In 2002, Haspel was the head of a secret CIA prison in Thailand, code-named “Cat’s Eye,” where alleged Al-Qaeda members were detained and tortured. The “gleeful enjoyment” Paul referenced was from the account of one interrogator who recalled Haspel’s response to a detainee who was being water-boarded.
In addition to overseeing the torture, Reuters reported that Haspel “carried out an order to destroy videotapes of the waterboarding” and other torture methods, after she was instructed to do so by the Bush Administration.
Haspel would replace Mike Pompeo as CIA director if Pompeo’s nomination for secretary of state is successful. Paul claimed that his opposition to Pompeo is specifically because Pompeo’s foreign policy views represent everything Trump claimed to be against during his presidential campaign.
Pompeo has referred to Iran as a “thuggish police state,” and he has said he believes Iran is directly influencing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which is why the United States should continue to push for regime change in Syria.
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