There are times when questions of bad faith go beyond insurance. This is such a time. Some people are supporting Ms. Gina Haspel's nomination to become the next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency with what used to be called The Nuremberg Defense: "I was just following orders." That defense did not work at Nuremberg and it should not work now.
So, there is a question to which I would like to know the answer when Ms. Haspel's nomination is approved by the Republican Senators at their hearing tomorrow:
If you were ordered to commit torture, did it ever occur to you to say "No"?
The follow-up answer is pretty easy for most people: "Why not?" But I am not as concerned with hearing Ms. Haspel's answer to that question partly because we may already know her answer after hearing her supporters:
She was just following orders.
No, what I would like to know is whether it ever occurred to her to say "No" if and when she got orders to torture people. That will tell us what we need to know about how she will respond to other orders when she is confirmed as Director of the CIA, if an order to torture people is no impediment to her.
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