Obama's Justice Department was involved in doing this and was on the verge
of sending James Risen to jail because he wouldn't name John as a source for
information in his book. Obama is no friend of whistle blowers.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Monday, August 10, 2015 11:07 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: The Sentence They Don't Tell You About
My blood boils! In part, because there is nothing I can do. But Barak
Obama could. He has the power to set John's sentence aside, give him back
his first class rights. Obama could, if he had any back bone.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/9/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The Sentence They Don't Tell You About Sunday, 09 August 2015 00:00 Bysource.
John Kiriakou, OtherWords | Op-Ed Eight years ago I blew the whistle
on the CIA's torture program. I knew there'd be trouble, but I never
could've predicted the years-long ordeal that followed.
My revelations led to a four-year-long FBI investigation and five
felony charges - against me, not the torturers. Facing a lifetime in
prison, I pled guilty to a lesser charge of confirming the name of a
former CIA colleague to a reporter who never published it.
That may sound familiar to you. It's exactly what former CIA director
David Petraeus did when he exposed the names of multiple undercover
officers to his girlfriend. Petraeus took a plea to a misdemeanor. I
didn't have four stars on my shoulder, and I wasn't a friend of the
president's, so I'd gotten stuck with a felony.
At sentencing, my judge gave me 30 months in prison and three years of
probation, and she took away my federal pension. I left for prison
believing that was the totality of my punishment. I was wrong.
One of the first things that happened upon my conviction was that the
company with which I had my homeowner's and auto insurance canceled my
policies. They don't do business with felons, they said. That same
week, my credit card company canceled my card and demanded the
immediate payment of the balance.
Then, shortly before my departure for prison, the agency that my wife
and I used to hire child care providers also jumped on the bandwagon.
They dropped us as clients and left us without anybody to help her
care for our three young children while I was away.
When I finally came home from prison six months ago, I thought
probation was all I had left to deal with. Yet even now, I'm still
putting up with petty government harassment, even if the private
sector has backed off.
I recently traveled to Greece to help the government there craft
whistleblower and anti-corruption legislation. As a Greek-American and
a whistleblower, I wanted to help my ancestral homeland climb out of
its current political and economic troubles and get back on track.
I had great success in Greece, securing support for the legislation
from the government and all major political parties. I'll return to
Greece in a few months to begin drafting the new law.
I landed back in Northern Virginia excited about my success and
prospects in Greece. Imagine my surprise, then, when an immigration
officer at Dulles International Airport stopped me and asked to see my
passport.
"Have you ever been convicted of a crime?" he asked. "You know I
have," I told him. "It's on your computer." He then handed me my
passport, but only after writing a large letter "C" on my customs form.
I walked to the customs line, but was then redirected to the customs
office.
I waited in a very long line only to be told to have a seat.
"Have you ever been convicted of a crime?" they asked again. "Yes," I
replied. "What does that have to do with being let back into my own
country?"
The customs officer then called my probation officer to ask if I'd
been allowed to leave the country. She said I had, so the customs
agent finally let me go. The whole ordeal took an hour. After 12 hours
in transit, it felt like a whole day.
I guess I'll have to tolerate this nonsense every time I travel
internationally. It's another unseen addition to my sentence.
Something tells me that General Petraeus doesn't have to put up with
these hassles.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It
may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the
JOHN KIRIAKOUsource.
John Kiriakou is an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies.
He's a former CIA officer who blew the whistle on the agency's use of
torture.
________________________________________
Show Comments
Hide Comments
<a href="http://truthout.disqus.com/?url=ref";>View the discussion
thread.</a> Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
The Sentence They Don't Tell You About Sunday, 09 August 2015 00:00 By
John Kiriakou, OtherWords | Op-Ed
. font size Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink
reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error!
Hyperlink reference not valid.
. Eight years ago I blew the whistle on the CIA's torture program. I
knew there'd be trouble, but I never could've predicted the years-long
ordeal that followed.
. My revelations led to a four-year-long FBI investigation and five
felony charges - against me, not the torturers. Facing a lifetime in
prison, I pled guilty to a lesser charge of confirming the name of a
former CIA colleague to a reporter who never published it.
That may sound familiar to you. It's exactly what former CIA director
David Petraeus did when he exposed the names of multiple undercover
officers to his girlfriend. Petraeus took a plea to a misdemeanor. I
didn't have four stars on my shoulder, and I wasn't a friend of the
president's, so I'd gotten stuck with a felony.
At sentencing, my judge gave me 30 months in prison and three years of
probation, and she took away my federal pension. I left for prison
believing that was the totality of my punishment. I was wrong.
One of the first things that happened upon my conviction was that the
company with which I had my homeowner's and auto insurance canceled my
policies. They don't do business with felons, they said. That same
week, my credit card company canceled my card and demanded the
immediate payment of the balance.
Then, shortly before my departure for prison, the agency that my wife
and I used to hire child care providers also jumped on the bandwagon.
They dropped us as clients and left us without anybody to help her
care for our three young children while I was away.
When I finally came home from prison six months ago, I thought
probation was all I had left to deal with. Yet even now, I'm still
putting up with petty government harassment, even if the private
sector has backed off.
I recently traveled to Greece to help the government there craft
whistleblower and anti-corruption legislation. As a Greek-American and
a whistleblower, I wanted to help my ancestral homeland climb out of
its current political and economic troubles and get back on track.
I had great success in Greece, securing support for the legislation
from the government and all major political parties. I'll return to
Greece in a few months to begin drafting the new law.
I landed back in Northern Virginia excited about my success and
prospects in Greece. Imagine my surprise, then, when an immigration
officer at Dulles International Airport stopped me and asked to see my
passport.
"Have you ever been convicted of a crime?" he asked. "You know I
have," I told him. "It's on your computer." He then handed me my
passport, but only after writing a large letter "C" on my customs form.
I walked to the customs line, but was then redirected to the customs
office.
I waited in a very long line only to be told to have a seat.
"Have you ever been convicted of a crime?" they asked again. "Yes," I
replied. "What does that have to do with being let back into my own
country?"
The customs officer then called my probation officer to ask if I'd
been allowed to leave the country. She said I had, so the customs
agent finally let me go. The whole ordeal took an hour. After 12 hours
in transit, it felt like a whole day.
I guess I'll have to tolerate this nonsense every time I travel
internationally. It's another unseen addition to my sentence.
Something tells me that General Petraeus doesn't have to put up with
these hassles.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It
may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the
John Kiriakou
John Kiriakou is an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies.
He's a former CIA officer who blew the whistle on the agency's use of
torture.
Show Comments
