title:  Trump’s Pick To Head CIA Is A Tea Party Loon Who Supports Torture, Wants Conflict With Iran
text: What could possibly go wrong?Rep. Mike Pompeo is a right-wing extremist who has no problem violating human and civil rights.But Donald Trump just picked the Kansas Republican to be the next director of the CIA, which should deeply disturb every American.In fact, it should worry everyone around the world because the Tea Party is now in charge of America s top intelligence agency. I am honored to have been given this opportunity to serve and to work alongside President-elect Donald J. Trump to keep America safe,  Pompeo said in a statement.  I also look forward to working with America s intelligence warriors, who do so much to protect Americans each and every day. But Pompeo isn t a reasonable man who will guide the CIA to success. He s going to lead them down a path that will erode the rights of American citizens and inflame the Muslim world.First, Pompeo supports the massive wire-tapping and information collecting being performed by the National Security Agency. I am convinced that intelligence collection actions are not only lawful and constitutional, but also consistent with the critical mission of defeating radical Islamic terrorism,  Pompeo has said.Of course, these  collection actions  are totally unconstitutional because the NSA doesn t have warrants to spy on millions of Americans every day via phone, Internet, and surveillance.Second, Pompeo hates Iran and opposed the nuclear deal achieved by President Obama that has reduced Iran s capability to build nuclear weapons. If Pompeo had his way, the whole deal would be ripped up, which would give Iran another reason to hate us and resume their quest to obtain a nuclear weapon.And finally, Pompeo is a big fan of using torture against enemy combatants even though it s a crime against humanity that is banned under United States and international law. The information we learned from the enhanced interrogation program was important, and led directly to the capture of Osama bin Laden,  Pompeo claimed in 2014. But that s a lie. Torture did not help us find Osama bin Laden.According to Mother Jones,CIA records indicate that: (1) the CIA had extensive reporting on [bin Laden courier] Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti (variant Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti), the UBL facilitator whose identification and tracking led to the identification of UBL s compound and the operation that resulted in UBL s death, prior to and independent of information from CIA detainees; (2) the most accurate information on Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti obtained from a CIA detainee was provided by a CIA detainee who had not yet been subjected to the CIA s enhanced interrogation techniques; and (3) CIA detainees who were subjected to the CIA s enhanced interrogation techniques withheld and fabricated information about Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti.In short, torture had nothing to do with finding bin Laden.If Pompeo and Trump authorize the CIA to use torture again it will only inflame the Middle East and give ISIS a recruiting message that will draw more fighters to their group. We want to weaken ISIS, not make them stronger. Using torture will only weaken our moral high ground and cause more terrorist attacks around the world and in the United States. Now more than ever we need a responsible CIA director who will gather intelligence the right way. Because if not, we could end up being led into more wars and a darker more dangerous world.Featured Image: Flickr