Tell the Senate: Block Trump’s War Cabinet

Trump’s new cabinet nominees risk putting us on paths to war with Iran and North Korea. They’ve overseen and support torture, and will continue American support for the Saudi war in Yemen. The Senate must reject them.

Email your senators now and tell them to block Trump’s War Cabinet by opposing the nominations of Mike Pompeo and Gina Haspel. (Read more)

Here’s the language that will be sent to Senate:

“Please oppose the nominations of Mike Pompeo and Gina Haspel and otherwise do everything in your power to prevent the advancement of these two dangerous nominees. The appointment of John Bolton as National Security Advisor, along with the nominations of Pompeo for Secretary of State and Haspel for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), represent an aggressive shift in posture and could well put us on a path to more war — and war crimes. The State Department is supposed to play a key role in international climate negotiations, human rights, and preserving peace around the world, but Pompeo is deeply Islamophobic, a climate denier, and a warmonger. Moreover, their respective histories of support for, and involvement in, torture are disqualifying in their own rights.”

More information:

Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo:

Mike Pompeo

Trump has nominated his current CIA head, Mike Pompeo, to become Secretary of State. Pompeo has historically supported torture, chose torturer Haspel as his deputy at the CIA, and has said that all Muslims are “potentially complicit” in terrorism.

As Secretary of State he would be in charge of certifying Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal — which he has asserted his desire to undermine. He has refused to foreclose upon the possibility of launching a preventive war with North Korea, and his support for unauthorized American involvement in conflicts such as that in Yemen.

Read also:
The impotence of the EU in the crisis with Iran

The State Department is supposed to play a key role in international climate negotiations, human rights, and preserving peace around the world. But Pompeo is a climate-denying, Islamophobic warmonger who is deep in the pockets of the Koch Brothers.

CIA Director, Gina Haspel:

Gina Haspel

Gina Haspel, the CIA Director nominee, oversaw torture programs in secret prisons abroad — and then engaged in a cover-up by pushing for the destruction of tapes of the interrogations during which torture took place. The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights has called for Haspel’s arrest for her role in the torture of detainees.

National Security Advisor, John Bolton:

John Bolton

Trump replaced his National Security Advisor with John Bolton, who was an architect of the war in Iraq — and who wishes that it had never ended, having asserted “Iraq today suffers not from the 2003 invasion, but from the 2011 withdrawal of all US combat forces.”

Bolton has argued for a so-called preventive strike on Iran, and thinks that a preventive attack on North Korea would be justified. His appointment does not require Senate approval — but if we can prevent Haspel’s and Pompeo’s confirmations, then Bolton will be less powerful.

The confirmation of Pompeo and/or Haspel would normalize torture, jeopardize human rights, increase the likelihood of war — and of war crimes, and empower the worst impulses of President Trump and John Bolton.

Please click to send an email demanding that your senators oppose Haspel’s confirmation as CIA Director and Pompeo’s confirmation as Secretary of State.