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markpkessinger

(8,401 posts) Wed Feb 4, 2015, 10:33 PM Feb 2015

Unbroken, CIA Torture Whistleblower Kiriakou To Finish Sentence Home with Family

[font size=2]Published on Wednesday, February 04, 2015 by Common Dreams[/font]
[font size=5]Unbroken, CIA Torture Whistleblower Kiriakou To Finish Sentence Home with Family[/font]
[font size=3]In final Letter from Loretto Prison, John Kiriakou writes: 'By the time you read this, I’ll be home'[/font]
by Lauren McCauley, staff writer

John Kiriakou, the CIA agent who was jailed for blowing the whistle on the United States' torture program, was released from Loretto Prison in Pennsylvania on Tuesday under orders to finish the remainder of his 30-month sentence at home.

Though glad the whistleblower was finally able to return to his wife and five children, supporters said the development was bittersweet considering that Kiriakou has thus far been the only government official to be punished for U.S. torture.

< . . . . >

"Considering that the last three heads of the CIA engaged in leaks of classified information without being charged under the Espionage Act and that no CIA official who ordered or participated in torture has been criminally punished," (Jesselyn) Radack (Kirakou's attorney) continued, "it is a welcome development that Kiriakou can serve the rest of his sentence at home with his family."

Kiriakou was prosecuted by the Obama administration under the Espionage Act for allegedly revealing classified information about the Bush government's torture program to a reporter. After agreeing to a plea deal in October 2012, he was sentenced to 30 months in prison. He has 86 days left to serve under house arrest.

< . . . . >

15 replies

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Highlight:

Unbroken, CIA Torture Whistleblower Kiriakou To Finish Sentence Home with Family (Original Post) markpkessinger Feb 2015 OP

OK, now we have room for the torturers. Downwinder Feb 2015 #1

Huge K & R !!! - Thank You !!! WillyT Feb 2015 #2

Happy to be the bearer of good news! n/t markpkessinger Feb 2015 #3

Kiriakou's 2013 Guardian Op-Ed: "Obama's abuse of the Espionage Act is modern-day McCarthyism" markpkessinger Feb 2015 #4

Thank you for posting the text. woo me with science Feb 2015 #5

John Kiriakou is not broken. He's a hero. woo me with science Feb 2015 #6

Reminiscent of Alfred Dreyfus. Downwinder Feb 2015 #7

+1! n/t markpkessinger Feb 2015 #8

Good news. His prosecution was not a highlight of this administration. nm rhett o rick Feb 2015 #9

this is almost vindication bigtree Feb 2015 #10

kick bigtree Feb 2015 #11

kick for conscience woo me with science Feb 2015 #12

kick woo me with science Feb 2015 #13

Good news! deurbano Feb 2015 #14

This man is a hero. Autumn Feb 2015 #15

Downwinder

(12,869 posts)

1. OK, now we have room for the torturers.

Reply to markpkessinger (Original post)

Wed Feb 4, 2015, 10:43 PM

Feb 2015

WillyT

(72,631 posts)

2. Huge K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

Reply to markpkessinger (Original post)

Wed Feb 4, 2015, 10:46 PM

Feb 2015

markpkessinger

(8,401 posts)

3. Happy to be the bearer of good news! n/t

Reply to WillyT (Reply #2)

Wed Feb 4, 2015, 11:01 PM

Feb 2015

markpkessinger

(8,401 posts)

4. Kiriakou's 2013 Guardian Op-Ed: "Obama's abuse of the Espionage Act is modern-day McCarthyism"

Reply to markpkessinger (Original post)

Wed Feb 4, 2015, 11:21 PM

Feb 2015

[font size=5]Obama's abuse of the Espionage Act is modern-day McCarthyism[/font]

[font size=3]Shame on this president for persecuting whistleblowers with a legal relic, while administration officials leak with impunity[/font]

Tuesday 6 August 2013 08.15 EDT

< . . . . >

President Obama has been unprecedented in his use of the Espionage Act to prosecute those whose whistleblowing he wants to curtail. The purpose of an Espionage Act prosecution, however, is not to punish a person for spying for the enemy, selling secrets for personal gain, or trying to undermine our way of life. It is to ruin the whistleblower personally, professionally and financially. It is meant to send a message to anybody else considering speaking truth to power: challenge us and we will destroy you.

Only ten people in American history have been charged with espionage for leaking classified information, seven of them under Barack Obama. The effect of the charge on a person's life – being viewed as a traitor, being shunned by family and friends, incurring massive legal bills – is all a part of the plan to force the whistleblower into personal ruin, to weaken him to the point where he will plead guilty to just about anything to make the case go away. I know. The three espionage charges against me made me one of "the Obama Seven".

In early 2012, I was arrested and charged with three counts of espionage and one count of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act (IIPA). (I was only the second person in US history to be charged with violating the IIPA, a law that was written to be used against rogues like Philip Agee.)

Two of my espionage charges were the result of a conversation I had with a New York Times reporter about torture. I gave him no classified information – only the business card of a former CIA colleague who had never been undercover. The other espionage charge was for giving the same unclassified business card to a reporter for ABC News. All three espionage charges were eventually dropped.

< . . . . >

woo me with science

(32,139 posts)

5. Thank you for posting the text.

Reply to markpkessinger (Reply #4)

Wed Feb 4, 2015, 11:29 PM

Feb 2015

Deeply corrupted government leads to outrageous abuses of power.

In our case, we are losing the Constitution itself.

Thank you to the courageous whistleblowers who make it at least a bit more possible that we will be able to wrest our democracy back.

woo me with science

(32,139 posts)

6. John Kiriakou is not broken. He's a hero.

Reply to markpkessinger (Original post)

Wed Feb 4, 2015, 11:31 PM

Feb 2015

Last edited Fri Feb 6, 2015, 03:25 PM - Edit history (1)

It is our purchased government and our corrupt politicians, who defend the torture state and persecute whistleblowers, who are deeply broken and corrupt.

Downwinder

(12,869 posts)

7. Reminiscent of Alfred Dreyfus.

Reply to woo me with science (Reply #6)

Wed Feb 4, 2015, 11:45 PM

Feb 2015

markpkessinger

(8,401 posts)

8. +1! n/t

Reply to woo me with science (Reply #6)

Wed Feb 4, 2015, 11:45 PM

Feb 2015

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)

9. Good news. His prosecution was not a highlight of this administration. nm

Reply to markpkessinger (Original post)

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 01:28 AM

Feb 2015

bigtree

(85,998 posts)

10. this is almost vindication

Reply to markpkessinger (Original post)

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 06:17 AM

Feb 2015

...not quite, because of the unjust prosecution and conviction.

However, this sounds like a government which is anticipating something in the hopper that could snap back on them. Such hyperventilated nonsense about all of the damage they say he did to national security and he's let out on house arrest? Must not have been as egregious as they said. What is really going on here?

Could be that they know they're not going to prosecute people like Petraus or Panetta and they're preemptively lessening this sentence to avoid too much criticism.