CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou Calls on Journalists to Tell
‘Full Story’ of US Torture
By John Casey, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
May 03, 2015 "Information
Clearing House" - "Bureau
of Investigative Journalism" --
CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou, who exposed the treatment of al Qaeda suspects
held in secret prisons, told the Bureau today it was now down to journalists to
“tell the full story” about the intelligence agency’s torture programme because
politicians did not have the will.In a video interview on the last day of his
house arrest recorded for the Bureau by film-maker Tarquin Ramsay, the former
CIA counter-terrorism analyst called on the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence to release more details from its 6,000-page report on CIA torture
completed last December.
The committee published a heavily redacted 525-page executive summary, which
contained shocking details about “enhanced interrogation” techniques. Kiriakou
said the release of more details was vital, not only for accountability, but
also to avoid a repeat of the programme in the future.
“If the next president decides he wants to torture prisoners, all he needs is
a stroke of his pen. We need legislation that will permanently and formally
outlaw torture,” he said.
“So while it’s nice to have a redacted version of the executive summary out
there in the public, there really hasn’t been any real change – nothing we can
point to as a success for human rights… It’s up to journalists to get the full
story because certainly the government won’t tell us.”
Kiriakou believes he was the “fall guy” for the CIA’s torture programme. He
blew the whistle on the interrogation operation, becoming the first US
government official to confirm the use of waterboarding. He continues to believe
what he did was right.
He was sentenced to 30 months in jail in January 2013 for revealing
classified material of CIA undercover identities.
Kiriakou also makes criticisms of Washington politicians, many of whom wanted
the details of the Senate report redacted. He said torturing prisoners neither
worked nor prevented any terrorist attacks.
His remarks come as The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and The
Rendition Project published the first comprehensive profiles of the 119
people secretly detained and tortured by the CIA. You can read our
full report, view our
infographic and see the
full data here.
Kiriakou also called on the US government to adhere to the international
treaties it has signed outlawing torture and to introduce new legislation to
explicitly ban torture.
This report is part of a
joint investigation with
The Rendition
Project and is being supported by the Freedom
of the Press Foundation. To support the Freedom of the Press Foundation’s
fundraising appeal for this investigation, please click
here.