President Donald Trump's choice to lead the CIA "is about to experience a good Borking," referring to the failed nomination of Judge Robert Bork in 1987, according to the National Review.
Although ProPublica issued a retraction for reporting that Haspel oversaw the waterboarding of al-Qaida suspect Abu Zubaydah, which occurred before she took command of the CIA's black site in Thailand, it stands by its report that she urged her bosses to destroy videotapes of the waterboarding.
National Review editor Rich Lowry defends CIA Deputy Director Gina Haspel, who's poised to assume leadership of the agency despite criticism for her role in the CIA's use of "enhanced interrogation" or torture.
Lowry says it is "unsurprising" that Americans "supported doing what was necessary to get information" following 9/11. He argues that since the program "wasn't a rogue operation," and since Haspel was just following orders, she should not be punished for her role overseeing the program.
"To punish Gina Haspel more than 15 years later for doing what her country asked her to do, and in response to what she was told were lawful orders, would be a travesty and a disgrace," Lowry wrote.
The Intercept's Jon Schwarz on Thursday noted the similarities between Lowry's defense of Haspel and the defense put forward by German officers following World War II, many of whom claimed to have been "only following orders."
The United Nations International Law Commission later found that "the fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him."
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