May 6, 2015 – Washington, District of Columbia, U.S. – Members of the Code Pink activist group stage a ‘welcome home party’ for former CIA employee JOHN KIRIAKOU, who spent two years in federal prison after he became the first US official with direct knowledge of the CIA’s practice of waterboarding to leak that information to the press in 2007. Kiriakou said waterboarding was torture.
Miguel Juarez Lugo/ZUMA Wire
Our government has committed some of the most horrific atrocities known to man.
This statement has become more apparent to me in recent months for a variety of reasons. One of these is due to CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou and the countless TikToks I have seen of him.
Kiriakou is a former CIA agent who was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for his role as a whistleblower for the Bush-administration Torture Program following the events of 9/11/2001. He served 23 of those 30 months and was released to house arrest as part of a plea bargain he took.
The only person arrested in relation to the program despite not being involved in the slightest, Kiriakou has since blown up on TikTok.
While he was released over 10 years ago in 2015, interviews and stories of his have recently clawed their way into the spotlight and sparked outrage.
These interviews include experiences of Kiriakou’s when he worked as a CIA intelligence officer and the Counterterrorism Center’s Chief of Operations in Pakistan.
He highlights war crimes he was knowledgeable of and even asked to be a part of, all in the name of justice, wellbeing, and because we’re the “good guys.”
There may be a few reasons for his recent virality, but one stands out to me: the political turmoil taking over our country.
ICE raids, murders in the streets, documents of the world’s elites committing the most heinous crimes imaginable, and more have played a crucial role in the declining support for the current administration. Kiriakou’s haunting accounts have only added fuel to the fire.
I credit the recent explosion in content of Kiriakou’s to American citizens’ unwavering dedication to know the truth.
Posts are being made of Kiriakou because people see the connections to our current situation and want this information known.
Many spend their whole lives blind to the obscenities committed by their own government in front of their eyes, but this time, the brutalities are far too prevalent for us to ignore.
As someone who was meddling in the inner workings of one of the biggest intelligence agencies in the world, Kiriakou can bring about a new wave of whistleblowers for issues we are currently facing.
This is what we need if we want to see any change: people just like Kiriakou who can recognize right from wrong even if it’s within our country, and speak from the inside out.
We are in an age where censorship and the silencing of citizens is becoming normal, and we must fight back for those who come after us.
Kiriakou’s experiences have made their way back to center stage for a reason, and he himself has come back to comment on recent events in multiple interviews.
I implore everyone reading to look into Kiriakou and research the unrest we are facing right now. Connect the dots yourself, and come to your own conclusions for what is happening and what needs to follow.
His stories may seem like past examples of our countries mishaps, but these atrocities are still happening much closer than you think.
We must bring it to an end.
If not the people, then who? We all know it won’t be those at the top.
Read about John Kiriakou on his website and watch some of his interviews on YouTube and other services.
**Correction: cover photo added 3/8**