Republican Senate candidate Leah Vukmir accused her Democratic rival, Sen.Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), of being on “Team Terrorists” Wednesday because Baldwin hasn’t voiced support for Gina Haspel’s nomination to lead the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
A tweet by Vukmir showed a bizarre image of Baldwin next to Khalid Sheikh Muhammed, the man accused of masterminding the 9/11 attacks, who also asked a military judge on Monday to share six paragraphs of information about Haspel.
Vukmir and Haspel are labelled as part of “Team America” whereas Baldwin and Muhammed are “Team Terrorists.”
Senator Baldwin would rather give the man behind the 9/11 attacks and other terrorists hugs and safe spaces than take adequate action to protect America and confirm Gina Haspel quickly. Unacceptable. #wisen https://t.co/njYuI94GHA pic.twitter.com/sCTCDpIvZs
— Leah Vukmir (@LeahVukmir) May 9, 2018
“It’s not surprise that [Sen. Baldwin] would rather give the man behind the 9/11 attacks and other terrorists hugs and safe spaces than take adequate action to protect America and confirm Gina Haspel quickly,” Vukmir said in a press release. “This is a dangerous time for America, and our CIA director should be willing to do what it takes to protect our nation, our citizens and our freedoms. Gina Haspel has proven she will do just that.”
By “just that” Vukmir is referring — presumably — to the main sticking point in Haspel’s nomination: her willingness to use torture. In 2002, Haspel was in charge of a CIA black site in Thailand (the first of its kind) where she oversaw the use of interrogation techniques such as coffin-like confinement boxes and controlled drowning.
Further concerns were raised on Wednesday, when Haspel testified that the CIA had overseen the destruction of 92 video tapes showing harsh interrogation techniques used against “one detainee.”
An undated CIA inventory of tapes, released as part of an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit in 2011, contradicts Haspel’s claims, however. That inventory has 90 tapes of interrogation of suspected Al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah and two videos of “Detainee #2.”
Vukmir’s accusations against Baldwin are made worse by the fact that, unlike other Democrats and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Baldwin has not yet publicly taken a position on Haspel’s nomination — although most Democrats are expected to eventually vote against Haspel.
Trump, meanwhile, praised Haspel in a tweet on Monday, saying she “has been, and always will be, TOUGH ON TERROR!” Trump has consistently advocated for torture as an interrogation technique, saying “torture works” during his presidential campaign and, in January 2017, that we need “to fight fire with fire.”
Many, however, are anxious that Haspel’s nomination will send dangerous signals about the U.S. to the rest of the world, and give its adversaries an excuse to say the U.S. continues to advocate for torture. Among those critics is Robert Ford, former U.S. ambassador to Syria. During a talk with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad about his use of torture, Ford recalled how Assad brought up the U.S. using torture at Abu Ghraib in 2003.
“If Ms. Haspel is confirmed, it’s going to undercut a lot of the efforts that the Department of State and other U.S. government agencies make in promoting human rights,” Ford said.