Category: Best of the Web

Tags: john, kiriakou, cia, torture, interrogation, abu, zubaydah, war, crimes, yoo, jay, bybee, jennifer, koester, dick, cheney, david, addington

A retired CIA agent who publicly confirmed the torture of al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah is set to plead guilty in court today to leaking classified information. John Kiriakou, who served from 1990 to 2004, is best known for a 2007 ABC News interview detailing how Zubaydah was waterboarded in CIA custody. John Kiriakou: "At the time, I felt that waterboarding was something that we needed to do. And as time has passed, and as September 11th has ? you know, has moved farther and farther back into history, I think I?ve changed my mind. And I think that waterboarding is probably something that we shouldn?t be in the business of doing." Brian Ross: "Why do you say that now?" John Kiriakou: "Because we?re Americans, and we?re better than that." Under a plea deal, Kiriakou will admit to a single count of revealing the identity of a covert officer, which carries a potential sentence of up to 30 months. Kiriakou?s indictment earlier this year marked the latest in the Obama administration?s crackdown on government whistleblowers. [Above from Democracy Now!] Replay of an interesting conversation with Chris Matthews, John Kiriakou elucidates more of the events around the capture and subsequent torture of Abu Zubaydah. Additionally he reveals timeline details and context around which he made his original statements about evidence gained from torture vs its moral detriment to the cause. 03-16-10 - Hardball -

 Send to a friend