Jailed CIA whistleblower on Bush torture policy labeled as 'dangerous' by prison officials

[bigtree]

Kevin Gosztola @kgosztola · 2h
CIA whistleblower @JohnKiriakou marked dangerous by Bureau of Prisons after labeled crime "espionage-related" http://bit.ly/1sgRlt2

CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou, who has been serving a prison sentence in a federal correctional facility in Loretto, Pennsylvania for over a year, has written a letter describing how he was given a special designation marking him dangerous. This led to him not being sent to a minimum security camp, and he reveals he was put in a low-security facility because the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) inappropriately categorized his offense as one related to “espionage.”

Firedoglake has been publishing “Letters from Loretto” by Kiriakou, who was the first member of the CIA to publicly acknowledge that torture was official US policy under the George W. Bush administration. He was convicted in October 2012 after he pled guilty to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act (IIPA) when he confirmed the name of an officer involved in the CIA’s Rendition, Detention and Interrogation (RDI) program to a reporter. He was sentenced in January 2013, and reported to prison on February 28, 2013.

Kiriakou was given a “public safety factor” designation when he was sentenced to prison. According to the Bureau of Prisons, “There are certain demonstrated behaviors, which require increased security measures to ensure the protection of society. There are nine Public Safety Factors (PSFs) which are applied to inmates who are not appropriate for placement at an institution which would permit inmate access to the community (i.e., MINIMUM security).”

For the record, Kiriakou was not only charged with violating the IIPA but also violating the Espionage Act three times.

“I had not committed nor was I convicted of espionage,” Kiriakou states. “My attorneys also argued that the judge and the prosecutors had both recommended camp, and they went into great legal detail on how the Intelligence Identities Protection Act had nothing to do with espionage.”

read more: http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2014/08/07/cia-whistleblower-john-kiriakou-was-marked-dangerous-after-bop-categorized-his-crime-as-espionage-related/

Kevin Gosztola @kgosztola · Aug 3
Podcast: @JesselynRadack on Snowden, Manning, CIA, culture of impunity & more in war on whistleblowers http://fdl.me/1onS3RV

[grasswire]

1. a travesty of justice

probably limits his visits, and means he's shackled at times, that sort of thing.

[Maedhros]

2. Why has Obama not pardoned this guy?

Oh, that's right - he has no integrity.

[BuelahWitch]

4. Because he's not a "patriot"! Duh!

[sabrina 1]

6. Because he didn't understand that it was patriotism that caused the torturers to torture

Shameful. And to think WE thought we could actually do something about these emormous injustices by throwing out Republicans.

[Octafish]

3. The guy who exposed treason gets prison.

The guys who committed treason get to paint shower scenes.

[HooptieWagon]

5. But no prison for Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby.

[sabrina 1]

8. Of course not, you are supposed to adjust your thinking now. These guys were

patriots who were just a little scared after 9/11.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Reporting torturers (just folks) is a crime. Torturing "some folks" isn't.

[OnyxCollie]

9. It's just some folks being tortured.

Something you'd likely see on a late Sunday afternoon during the summertime, while the soft song of wind chimes floats by on a gentle breeze, providing humble accompaniment to anguished screams, and as condensation rolls down the side of a tall glass of iced tea, like water being poured over some folk's face.

Propaganda Techniques

From Institute for Propaganda Analysis, Propaganda Analysis. New York: Columbia University Press, 1938. Quoted at http://carmen.artsci.washington.edu/propaganda/home.htm and http://www.vcsun.org/~ilene/secured_305text/propa.html

Plain folks

"Plain Folks" is a device used by politicians, labor leaders, businessmen, and even by ministers and educators to win our condence by appearing to be people like ourselves- "just plain folks among the neighbors." In election years especially do candidates show their devotion to little children and the common, homey things of life. They have front porch campaigns. For the newspapermen they raid the kitchen cupboard, finding there some of the good wife's apple pie. They go to country picnics; they attend service at the old frame church; they pitch hay and go fishing; they show their belief in home and mother. In short, they would win our votes by showing that they're just as common as the rest of us- "just plain folks" -and, therefore, wise and good. Businessmen often are "plain folks" with the factory hands. Even distillers use the device. "It's our family's whiskey, neighbor; and neighbor, it's your price."