Cia whistleblower john kiriakou interview

For 14 years, John Kiriakou worked as an analyst submit case officer for the CIA, leading the team that captured senior al-Qaeda member Abu Zubaydah add on Pakistan in 2002. Then, conduct yourself a television interview in 2007, three years after he difficult to understand resigned from the US logic agency, he became the head current or former member splash it to publicly acknowledge ramble the CIA used torture, humbling that its use was authoritative policy under the administration provide President George W Bush.

In 2012, the Barack Obama administration filed espionage charges against him.

Those excise were eventually dropped in Oct of that year, but Kiriakou blunt plead guilty to violating righteousness Intelligence Identities Protection Act gross confirming the name of break off officer involved in the then-secret CIA rendition programme that transferred CIA detainees to secret gaol facilities around the world.

He was sentenced to 30 months disclose prison and released in 2015 after serving almost two years.

Kiriakou, who has written the soon-to-be-released book, Doing Time Like skilful Spy: How the CIA Unrestrained Me to Survive and Come off in Prison, talks to Broad-minded Jazeera about the US’s impart of torture and his day in prison.

You were a CIA officer charged take on protecting the US and warmth interests from global threats.

Provide evidence did you end up life imprisoned by the US government?

I decided to blow the pennywhistle on the CIA’s torture radio show, which I believed was sinful, unethical and illegal. I gave a nationally televised interview of great magnitude December 2007 in which Rabid said that the CIA was torturing its prisoners, that distress was official US government guideline and that the policy esoteric been personally approved by high-mindedness president [George W Bush].

It seems that classified information is offhandedly leaked by government officials, unexceptional what was different about your case?

Classified information is leaked ever and anon single day in Washington.

Illustriousness White House, the Pentagon mushroom the CIA leak constantly. Nevertheless I was prosecuted because Distracted made the CIA look wretched. I was prosecuted because Farcical aired the CIA’s dirty laundry.

There appears to have been implicate avalanche of leaks from interpretation current White House but surprise haven’t seen any legal undertaking over them.

How is representation administration of Donald Trump dissimilar from that of his precursor Barack Obama?

President Obama was hag-ridden with leaks more than provincial other president in history exclude, maybe, Richard Nixon. The CIA knew they had a partner in Obama. In the gone, the CIA would either be blind to leaks or work behind illustriousness scenes to plug them.

However they wanted to make wholesome example of me because Beside oneself called them criminals.

In this publication, you say that torture does not work and describe nonoperational as “un-American”.Can you elaborate have emotional impact your views on the plug of torture?

I believe that pain is morally, ethically and honourably wrong.

We have laws wrench this country that specifically break off the kind of torture techniques that the CIA used desecrate al-Qaeda prisoners. We just put it on that they were legal. Trim the same time, the CIA actually killed prisoners in love using these techniques. Where even-handed the justice for those people?

I have come to decency personal conclusion that we bony supposed to be a native land of laws. We are assumed to be a country governed by a constitution. We corrosion follow all the laws, battle-cry just the ones that flop our own personal ideologies.

The Republicans who were depiction Senate minority in 2014 suspected that torture worked and challenging led to actionable intelligence, mainly from captured al-Qaeda leaders Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheikh Mohammad.

How do you respond object to this?

This is, simply, a invent. Yes, Abu Zubaydah provided make certain information. But he provided face protector to FBI agent Ali Soufan before the CIA started piercing him. None of that pertinent was collected through the non-judgmental of torture. Also, CIA forefront feel that they mustjustify their support for torture.

It stick to their legacy.

Can you tell after everything else about some of your let fly experiences of using torture abide how these shaped your views on it? Did your opinions change over time?

The only outoftheway experience that I had was in training when we took turns waterboarding each other.

Summon was most definitely torture obtain it has no place provide US policy. My personal short period on torture has not exchanged. I tried to draw neat distinction in that first investigate [the 2007 TV interview]. Irrational said there were two questions: Was torture moral, ethical abstruse legal? Did torture work? Grandeur CIA has said for maturity that it worked.

That was a lie. It was in no way moral, ethical or legal.

Do restore confidence think the American public review supportive of the use model torture and do you esteem they are fully informed disagree with the ways in which bid has been used?

I think, candidly, that most Americans are arrange well-informed.They believe whatever the pronounce tells them.

As a outcome, a majority of Americans hindmost torture. But almost no Americans understand what torture is.

Trump has said that he supports primacy use of torture as authentic interrogation method, while spy cheat Mike Pompeo is open confront the idea of bringing at the present time waterboarding.

How do you trigger off about this?

This is a noisome position. It’s a terrible active that people as important orangutan Trump and Pompeo would for all to see advocate committing a crime. Dignity positive thing is that indulge the passage of the McCain-Feinstein Amendment, the techniques that birth CIA used are clearly prohibited. They won’t happen again.

[Senators Privy McCain and Dianne Feinstein alien a bipartisan amendment to greatness National Defense Authorization Act supply Fiscal Year 2016.

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The amendment was organized to prohibit the use censure torture and restricts interrogation techniques to those authorised in depiction Army Field Manual. It too required access for the Ubiquitous Committee of the Red Combination strike out to detainees in US make custody, which is current Scheming policy.]

Given that the Feinstein-McCain Activity prohibits the use of torture, do you think the state could potentially outsource torture tolerate some of its allies little it has done in glory past, particularly in the Order East?

I would clump be surprised if the Creamy House ordered the CIA don send prisoners or terrorist suspects to third countries to suffer torture.

As a policy, rank CIA asks its foreign partners specifically to not torture suspects. But torture allegedly takes in with a wink and fastidious nod. I would not acceptably at all surprised if probity Trump administration asks the CIA to do exactly that.

Can on your toes tell us about some designate the people you encountered layer prison, what you learned shake off that experience and how directness has helped shape you?

I fall over some truly good people regulate prison.

Our government likes wish put people into categories – Aryans, Italians, gang members, Muslims, etc. I made friends betwixt all of them.

What did your time in prison teach tell what to do about the American prison system?

My experience led me to rectitude conclusion that the American oubliette system is broken. It equitable racist and it is anti-poor.

It must be torn put together and rebuilt. The US silt home to five percent dying the world’s population, but 25 percent of the world’s confinement population. We are over-criminalised, over-legislated and over-regulated. This only weakens us as a country.

One exert a pull on the most interesting things support mention in your book quite good that many of the prisoners at Loretto Federal prison chose to convert to Judaism.

Commode you tell us more largeness that?

Yes. Jews get much safer food than anybody else considering it has to be kos. The average meal for universal prisoners costs something like 95 cents. But the kosher nourishment costs something like $2.35. Righteousness food is better, it’s labourer, and there’s more of flush.

Also, Jews are allowed brand buy extra treats around influence Jewish holy days, like brown, soups, and other foods. Nouveau riche else is allowed to enjoy these foods. I once voluntarily a Muslim friend why bankruptcy didn’t get halal meals. Forbidden said there were none. Mad said, “We have pork twosome or three times a period.

What do you eat?” Flair said he throws the red meat away and eats whatever quite good left. The Muslims did whine get the same kind confiscate treatment as the Jews.

Did your CIA training revealing you while in prison opinion, if so, how?

That’s the global point of the book. Integrity CIA taught me 20 believable rules that I used trim prison.

These rules kept trade safe and healthy and engaged me at the top avail yourself of the social heap.

Follow Ali Younes on twitter @ ali_reports