KIRIAKOU: "I Would Do It All Again" to Expose Torture

[Oscar]

Freed CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou Says "I Would Do It All Again" to Expose Torture

[ http://www.democracynow.org/2015/2/9/ex ... n_kiriakou ]

February 9, 2015

In a broadcast exclusive interview, we spend the hour with John Kiriakou, a retired CIA agent who has just been released from prison after blowing the whistle on the George W. Bush administration’s torture program.

In 2007, Kiriakou became the first CIA official to publicly confirm and detail the agency’s use of waterboarding.

In January 2013, he was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison. Under a plea deal, Kiriakou admitted to a single count of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act by revealing the identity of a covert officer involved in the torture program to a freelance reporter, who did not publish it. In return, prosecutors dropped charges brought under the Espionage Act. Kiriakou is the only official to be jailed for any reason relating to CIA torture. Supporters say he was unfairly targeted in the Obama administration’s crackdown on government whistleblowers.

A father of five, Kiriakou spent 14 years at the CIA as an analyst and case officer, leading the team that found high-ranking al-Qaeda member Abu Zubaydah in 2002.

He joins us from his home in Virginia, where he remains under house arrest for three months while completing his sentence.

In a wide-ranging interview, Kiriakou says, "I would do it all over again," after seeing the outlawing of torture after he came forward.

Kiriakou also responds to the details of the partially released Senate Committee Report on the CIA’s use of torture; argues NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden did a "great national service," but will not get a fair trial if he returns to the United States; and describes the conditions inside FCI Loretto, the federal prison where he served his sentence and saw prisoners die with "terrifying frequency" from lack of proper medical care.

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John Kiriakou spent 14 years at the CIA as an analyst and case officer.

Kiriakou exposed the Bush-era torture program and became the only official jailed in connection with it.

In 2007, he became the first CIA official to publicly confirm the Bush administration’s use of waterboarding.

In January 2013, he was sentenced to two-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to confirming the identity of a covert officer to a reporter, who did not publish it.

His memoir is titled Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA’s War on Terror. Kiriakou was released from prison last week, but remains under house arrest for three months.

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"Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA's War on Terror" by John Kiriakou (Skyhorse Publishing)

[ http://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/book/ ... 9100967850 ]

Waterboarding terrorist suspects, CIA raids in Pakistan, and the truth about the invasion of Iraq—one CIA agent’s shocking true story!

Long before the waterboarding controversy exploded in the media, one CIA agent had already gone public.

In a groundbreaking 2007 interview with ABC News, John Kiriakou defined waterboarding as torture—but still admitted that it probably was effective. This book, at once a confessional, an adventure story, and a chronicle of Kiriakou’s life in the CIA, stands as an important, eloquent piece of testimony from a committed American patriot.

Kiriakou takes us into the fight against an enemy fueled by fanaticism, chillingly recounting what it was like inside the CIA headquarters on the morning of 9/11, the agency leaders who stepped up and those who protected their careers, and, in what may be the book’s most shocking revelation, how the White House made plans to invade Iraq a full year before the CIA knew about it—or could attempt to stop it.

Chronicling both mind-boggling mistakes and heroic acts of individual courage, The Reluctant Spy is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the inner workings of the U.S. intelligence apparatus, the truth behind the torture debate, and the incredible dedication of ordinary men and women doing one of the most extraordinary jobs on earth.

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Watch all Democracy Now! interviews with John Kiriakou
[ http://www.democracynow.org/appearances/john_kiriakou ]



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