Trump, Pompeo differ on fight against terrorism: Analyst

The US Senate has voted for Mike Pompeo to replace John Brennan as the director of the CIA spy agency. US President Donald Trump has rushed to replace Brennan because they had a quarrel over alleged Russian hacking efforts in favor of Trump amid the US 2016 presidential campaign. Press TV has interviewed an analyst to ask about what consequences the new appointment will have both at national level inside the United States, and at international level.

Rodney Shakespeare, a political commentator from London, said the appointment of Mike Pompeo as the CIA head means that the Trump administration is not going to have an effective strategy to fight terrorism.

“Nothing from Pompeo is going to suggest that he supports all his president, Trump, supports – [including] the destruction of ... Daesh – which is essentially [supported by the] regime in Saudi Arabia,” Shakespeare said on Tuesday.

“Under these policies of President Trump and his CIA appointment of Pompeo, we’re going to see a deepening of anti-Muslim hostility, deepening of Zionism, deepening of torture, and move towards the police state, the analyst added.

It seems unlikely that the Trump administration would adopt a proper policy to “contribute to the ending of Daesh,” he noted.

Pompeo drew criticism when he addressed Congress last week saying that he would bring back waterboarding and other interrogation tactics.

Shakespeare went on to say that the new CIA director favors the “Guantanamo Bay” detention center, “torture” and “increased spying.”

Trump and Pompeo have different views on some issues like American policies toward Moscow. In his opening remarks, the CIA chief took aim at Russia and China as sophisticated adversaries.

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