Whoever thinks that a government that engages in the conduct, detailed below, could respect the Human Rights of its own citizens, must be delusional... JZ
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Whistleblower who revealed CIA torture sentenced to prison
Former CIA agent John Kiriakou pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to crimes related to blowing the whistle on the US government’s torture of suspected terrorists and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison. Continue
The Back Story to Kiriakou's Imminent Guilty Plea
By Jesselyn Radack
October 23, 2012 "Daily Kos" -- A change of plea hearing is set for today at 11:00 am in the Espionage Act case against Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) whistleblower John Kiriakou.
Former CIA agent John Kiriakou pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to crimes related to blowing the whistle on the US government’s torture of suspected terrorists and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison. Continue
The Back Story to Kiriakou's Imminent Guilty Plea
By Jesselyn Radack
October 23, 2012 "Daily Kos" -- A change of plea hearing is set for today at 11:00 am in the Espionage Act case against Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) whistleblower John Kiriakou.
Let's be clear, there is one reason, and one reason only, that John Kiriakou is taking this plea: for the certainty that he'll be out of jail in 2 1/2 years to see his five children grow up.
The government is prepared to drop 80% of its case, including all Espionage Act charges (sound familiar, ahem, Tom Drake?). Kiriakou is expected to plead guilty to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act (IIPA)--there are no reported cases interpreting it because it's nearly impossible to prove--for "outing" a torturer. "Outing" is in quotes because the charge is not that Kiriakou's actions resulted in a public disclosure of the name, but that through a Kevin Bacon-style chain of causation, GITMO torture victims learned the name of one of their possible torturers. Regardless, how does outing a torturer hurt the national security of the U.S.? It's like arguing that outing a Nazi guarding a concentration camp would hurt the national security of Germany.
In the last couple of weeks, it became public that:
. . . The CIA officer listed as "Officer A" in the John Kiriakou complaint has been revealed to be Thomas Donahue Fletcher. Born in 1953. Fletcher is currently a resident of Vienna, VA. Further - source states journalists have known identity of this person prior to August 2008, when Kiriakou allegedly confirmed the identity in an email to Matthew Cole, formerly of ABC News. . . . Thomas Donahue Fletcher was the chief of the Headquarters Based Rendition Group and was personally responsible for the rendition of Abu Zubaydah (as well as other high-value detainees) to the CIA black site in Thailand and witnessed and played a role in Zubaydah's torture.
An effectively-forced plea from John Kiriakou will be the tragic bookend to the torture narrative: Kiriakou will be going to jail, while Fletcher happily enjoys retirement in Vienna VA, safe with protection from "the most transparent administration in history."
READ MORE:
U.S. Intends to Keep Adding names to Kill Lists
By Greg Miller
Over the past two years, the Obama administration has been secretly developing a new blueprint for pursuing terrorists, a next-generation targeting list called the "disposition matrix."
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