February 2013 Archives

After all the hand wringing during the Bush Administration with its newly 

minted 'War on Terror' and allegations of Executive over reach, he was the 

one person who stood up and said 'yes we torture'. His background of being a 

career CIA operative lent weight to his statements. With George Bush's very 

public admission later that he personally gave the go ahead to the various

forms of waterboarding, sleep deprivation, cramming detainees into small 

boxes for days on end, and the 'cold rooms' where water would be splashed on

freezing inmates all were told to us first by Mr. Kiriakou.

As with members of the military, all government officials have to swear

an oath to uphold our Constitution, not to any one branch of government

or official. In good conscience he felt what was going on was a betrayal

of that document and the nation needed to know. Did the torturers and

those who authorized it get called to account? Not yet anyway. Who is

going to prison? John Kiriakou the whistleblower. Even the man who

knowingly destroyed the tapes made during these illegal tortures, in

itself a federal crime and one that brought down the Nixon Administration

if you recall, is serving no prison time. Rather than that he is criss-

crossing the country touting his book and talking up the benefits of

torture. All those on the left, right and center would do well to

remember the name of John Kiriakou as we lose our civil liberties one by

one. You can add Bradley Manning and Julian Assange to that short list as

well.

Mike Caggiano

SMPA [San Mateo Peace Action] Prez.