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Ray McGovern Arrested and Abused Protesting #BloodyGina

Above: Ray McGovern being manhandled by Capitol Hill police after protesting #BloodyGina, Twitter.

Protests Held Inside Hearing and Outside Senate Against Haspel Nomination For CIA Director

At the Senate hearing on the nomination of Gina Haspel, aka. #BloodyGina, to head the CIA,  people protested inside and outside of the hearing. Protesters know, as everyone in the US Senate knows, that Haspel was directly involved in torture and gave the order to destroy tapes showing brutal US torture.

Ray McGovern, a long-time CIA analyst, was one of the people who protested her being considered for that post. He was aggressively arrested and mistreated by police and is being held overnight in the DC jail.

Ray McGovern is a co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). McGovern was a CIA analyst from 1963 to 1990, and in the 1980s chaired National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President’s Daily Brief. In the mid-1980s, he was a senior analyst conducting early morning briefings one-on-one with the president, vice president, the secretaries of State and Defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the assistant to the president for national security. 

As an act of conscience, on March 2, 2006, Ray returned the Intelligence Commendation Medallion given him at retirement for “especially meritorious service,” explaining, “I do not want to be associated, however remotely, with an agency engaged in torture.”  He returned the medallion to Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R, Michigan), then-Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. McGovern has stood up and confronted those who abuse their power including Hillary Clinton and Donald Rumsfeld. For more on McGovern, visit raymcgovern.com, his website.

Ahead of the Haspel hearing, McGovern wrote an article that claimed torture is not only illegal and immoral, but fails to produce accurate intelligence.

Here is a report on McGovern being held overnight in the DC jail.

McGovern was not the only person protesting the Haspel nomination. Multiple protesters were removed from the hearing before it began. One protester shouted “Bloody Gina!” and “you are a torturer!”, also shouted was “Bloody Gina. You are a pervert.”

If she is confirmed, following President Trump's decision to violate the nuclear agreement with Iran and European nations by re-instituting sanctions, it will show the United States violates international law and will continue to shrink its role in world affairs. Haspel and others in the CIA, Department of Justice and the White House should have been prosecuted for torture. Haspel should certainly not be elevated to being the director of the CIA.

Popular Resistance has been reporting on the nomination of Haspel.  Here are more articles on the Haspel nomination:

Will A Torturer Become CIA Director? by Ray McGovern

Trump’s Shameful Choice Of ‘Bloody Gina’ by Robert Scheer

The Real Problem With Gina Haspel’s CIA Nomination by the National Interest

Trump Should Withdraw Haspel Nomination, Intel Vets Say by Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

Gina Haspel’s Nomination Should Be Withdrawn, She Should Be Investigated by Amnesty International

Why Gina Haspel’s CIA Appointment Will Spur Torture At All Levels by Robert James Parsons

Gina Haspel, Trump’s Pick For CIA Director, Ran A Black Site For Torture by Glenn Greenwald

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