Cidersomerset
26th January 2013, 01:55
There is something wrong here, the Judge said she wanted to give a longer sentence.
Yet the guilty parties have got away scot free!
fNHMOfjY1DA
Published on 25 Jan 2013
On Friday, former CIA official John Kiriakou was sentenced to two and a half years in
federal prison for his involvement in exposing the CIA's interrogation techniques such as
waterboarding. Kiriakou was persecuted by the Obama administration for violating the
Espionage Act of 1917. RT's Meghan Lopez has more.
VtPCaZuLaA4
======================================================
Arrest of Ex-CIA Official, John Kiriakou, For Leaks About Detainee Torture Is Criticized
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mccwqnvJiX1r6m2leo1_1280.jpg
Human rights and open government advocates on Tuesday harshly criticized the Obama
administration over the criminal charges brought against an ex-CIA officer for allegedly
leaking to reporters the names of two agency operatives involved in the brutal
interrogation of terrorism detainees.
John Kiriakou, 47, the CIA's former director of counterterrorism operations in Pakistan,
was arraigned in federal court in Virginia on Monday on charges of espionage, lying to
investigators and disclosing the identity of a covert operative. He was released on bond.
His attorney, Plato Cacheris, said he would plead not guilty to the charges, which carry
a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.Kiriakou, of Arlington, Va., is the sixth
government official charged with espionage by the Obama administration for leaking
classified information to reporters. The espionage law, enacted in 1917, was used only
three times prior to Obama's election to prosecute leaks to the media.
Jesselyn Radack, an attorney with the Government Accountability Project, which
defends whistle-blowers, called Kiriakou's arrest the most recent example of a broader
administration crackdown against federal officials who disclose illegal, abusive or
wasteful government activity.
"This is being done to send a chilling message to whistle-blowers, journalists and
defense lawyers to keep quiet," Radack said.Kiriakou allegedly leaked information to
reporters about two CIA agents directly involved in interrogations of terrorism suspects
during the Bush administration that used waterboarding -- a simulated drowning
technique that President Obama has himself described as torture.
In 2009, President Obama declared that while waterboarding was torture and illegal, he
would not pursue U.S operatives or officials who performed it or authorized its use.
Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the "Pentagon Papers" in 1971, revealing a long history of
government duplicity over the Vietnam War, said it was brazenly hypocritical to
prosecute Kiriakou for leaking information related to waterboarding while those who
performed it were granted immunity.
"You're criminalizing the revelation of illegality and you're decriminalizing the illegality --
the torture," Ellsberg said.Ellsberg added that there had been no prosecution of the
former head of the CIA's clandestine service, who admitted ordering the destruction of
92 videotapes of brutal interrogations of al-Qaeda suspects in Thailand.
"Is that person prosecuted?" Ellsberg said. "Absolutely not."
Justice Department officials, meanwhile, came down hard on Kiriakou, saying his
unauthorized leaks to a New York Times reporter ultimately exposed the identity of a
covert CIA operative to the defense counsel for a terrorism detainee in Guantanamo Bay.
According to news reports alluded to in court documents, that covert officer was
responsible for the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, an al-Qaeda lieutenant captured in
Pakistan who was waterboarded 86 times in one month at the military prison in
Guantanamo Bay in 2002, classified documents disclosed by the Obama administration
revealed. The operative's name was not published by the Times, prosecutors said, but
was passed along to defense attorneys who included information on the officer in a
classified legal filing.
Kiriakou also allegedly provided information on the identity of a second CIA agent,
Deuce Martinez, according to prosecutors. Martinez, who was not a clandestine officer,
was identified in a 2008 front-page story in the New York Times detailing the
interrogation of Zubaydah and other al-Qaeda figures. Martinez interrogated al-Qaeda
suspects but did not participate in waterboarding or other harsh techniques, according
to the article.Attorney General Eric Holder said the leaks jeopardized national
security. "Safeguarding classified information, including the identities of CIA officers
involved in sensitive operations, is critical to keeping our intelligence officers safe and
protecting our national security," Holder said in a statement.
Yet even some strong supporters of the government's right to prosecute leakers
questioned whether the Obama administration's use of the rarely invoked espionage
statute against Kiriakou was warranted. Glenn Carle, a former CIA clandestine
operations officer and a top counterterrorism official during the George W. Bush
administration, said he fully supported the prosecution of government leakers. "I don't
accept that it's a routine matter, and that it's something we should condone," he said.
Nevertheless, Carle called the espionage charge against Kiriakou "chilling," and noted
that it had previously been restricted almost solely for use against spies in the employ
of foreign powers. "That's what is really surprising and chilling about all this," Carle
said. "It's turning to domestic uses a pretty heavy piece of artillery."
CIA officials, however, expressed no concerns over the prosecution. In a statement
Monday, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the CIA director, said the agency "fully supported the
investigation from the beginning and will continue to do so."
"Given the sensitive nature of many of our Agency's operations and the risks we ask our
employees to take, the illegal passage of secrets is an abuse of trust that may put lives
in jeopardy," Petraeus said. Human rights advocates, however, questioned whether CIA
and Justice Department officials may have a separate rationale for pursuing Kiriakou.
Scott Horton, a professor at Columbia Law School and a prominent human rights
attorney, noted that the names of CIA operatives that Kiriakou allegedly leaked to the
media would be extremely useful to foreign prosecutors pursuing possible war crimes
charges against U.S. intelligence agents and officials. Such probes, focusing on the use
of torture against detainees and the kidnapping of terror suspects, known
as "extraordinary rendition," are under way in Spain, Italy and Germany.
"You have to put this in the context of pending criminal investigations overseas which
target these very people," Horton said. "That is why the CIA is so concerned."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/john-kiriakou-cia-leak_n_1229526.html
Yet the guilty parties have got away scot free!
fNHMOfjY1DA
Published on 25 Jan 2013
On Friday, former CIA official John Kiriakou was sentenced to two and a half years in
federal prison for his involvement in exposing the CIA's interrogation techniques such as
waterboarding. Kiriakou was persecuted by the Obama administration for violating the
Espionage Act of 1917. RT's Meghan Lopez has more.
VtPCaZuLaA4
======================================================
Arrest of Ex-CIA Official, John Kiriakou, For Leaks About Detainee Torture Is Criticized
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mccwqnvJiX1r6m2leo1_1280.jpg
Human rights and open government advocates on Tuesday harshly criticized the Obama
administration over the criminal charges brought against an ex-CIA officer for allegedly
leaking to reporters the names of two agency operatives involved in the brutal
interrogation of terrorism detainees.
John Kiriakou, 47, the CIA's former director of counterterrorism operations in Pakistan,
was arraigned in federal court in Virginia on Monday on charges of espionage, lying to
investigators and disclosing the identity of a covert operative. He was released on bond.
His attorney, Plato Cacheris, said he would plead not guilty to the charges, which carry
a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.Kiriakou, of Arlington, Va., is the sixth
government official charged with espionage by the Obama administration for leaking
classified information to reporters. The espionage law, enacted in 1917, was used only
three times prior to Obama's election to prosecute leaks to the media.
Jesselyn Radack, an attorney with the Government Accountability Project, which
defends whistle-blowers, called Kiriakou's arrest the most recent example of a broader
administration crackdown against federal officials who disclose illegal, abusive or
wasteful government activity.
"This is being done to send a chilling message to whistle-blowers, journalists and
defense lawyers to keep quiet," Radack said.Kiriakou allegedly leaked information to
reporters about two CIA agents directly involved in interrogations of terrorism suspects
during the Bush administration that used waterboarding -- a simulated drowning
technique that President Obama has himself described as torture.
In 2009, President Obama declared that while waterboarding was torture and illegal, he
would not pursue U.S operatives or officials who performed it or authorized its use.
Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the "Pentagon Papers" in 1971, revealing a long history of
government duplicity over the Vietnam War, said it was brazenly hypocritical to
prosecute Kiriakou for leaking information related to waterboarding while those who
performed it were granted immunity.
"You're criminalizing the revelation of illegality and you're decriminalizing the illegality --
the torture," Ellsberg said.Ellsberg added that there had been no prosecution of the
former head of the CIA's clandestine service, who admitted ordering the destruction of
92 videotapes of brutal interrogations of al-Qaeda suspects in Thailand.
"Is that person prosecuted?" Ellsberg said. "Absolutely not."
Justice Department officials, meanwhile, came down hard on Kiriakou, saying his
unauthorized leaks to a New York Times reporter ultimately exposed the identity of a
covert CIA operative to the defense counsel for a terrorism detainee in Guantanamo Bay.
According to news reports alluded to in court documents, that covert officer was
responsible for the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, an al-Qaeda lieutenant captured in
Pakistan who was waterboarded 86 times in one month at the military prison in
Guantanamo Bay in 2002, classified documents disclosed by the Obama administration
revealed. The operative's name was not published by the Times, prosecutors said, but
was passed along to defense attorneys who included information on the officer in a
classified legal filing.
Kiriakou also allegedly provided information on the identity of a second CIA agent,
Deuce Martinez, according to prosecutors. Martinez, who was not a clandestine officer,
was identified in a 2008 front-page story in the New York Times detailing the
interrogation of Zubaydah and other al-Qaeda figures. Martinez interrogated al-Qaeda
suspects but did not participate in waterboarding or other harsh techniques, according
to the article.Attorney General Eric Holder said the leaks jeopardized national
security. "Safeguarding classified information, including the identities of CIA officers
involved in sensitive operations, is critical to keeping our intelligence officers safe and
protecting our national security," Holder said in a statement.
Yet even some strong supporters of the government's right to prosecute leakers
questioned whether the Obama administration's use of the rarely invoked espionage
statute against Kiriakou was warranted. Glenn Carle, a former CIA clandestine
operations officer and a top counterterrorism official during the George W. Bush
administration, said he fully supported the prosecution of government leakers. "I don't
accept that it's a routine matter, and that it's something we should condone," he said.
Nevertheless, Carle called the espionage charge against Kiriakou "chilling," and noted
that it had previously been restricted almost solely for use against spies in the employ
of foreign powers. "That's what is really surprising and chilling about all this," Carle
said. "It's turning to domestic uses a pretty heavy piece of artillery."
CIA officials, however, expressed no concerns over the prosecution. In a statement
Monday, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the CIA director, said the agency "fully supported the
investigation from the beginning and will continue to do so."
"Given the sensitive nature of many of our Agency's operations and the risks we ask our
employees to take, the illegal passage of secrets is an abuse of trust that may put lives
in jeopardy," Petraeus said. Human rights advocates, however, questioned whether CIA
and Justice Department officials may have a separate rationale for pursuing Kiriakou.
Scott Horton, a professor at Columbia Law School and a prominent human rights
attorney, noted that the names of CIA operatives that Kiriakou allegedly leaked to the
media would be extremely useful to foreign prosecutors pursuing possible war crimes
charges against U.S. intelligence agents and officials. Such probes, focusing on the use
of torture against detainees and the kidnapping of terror suspects, known
as "extraordinary rendition," are under way in Spain, Italy and Germany.
"You have to put this in the context of pending criminal investigations overseas which
target these very people," Horton said. "That is why the CIA is so concerned."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/john-kiriakou-cia-leak_n_1229526.html