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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhen it is stated that no one has been jailed for crimes of Iraq War era -
I just want to scream.
As one decent person was indeed jailed for illegal activities that came about during that war.
He is John Kiriakou, a man who exposed the ways that torture was being routinely conducted.
No other American has been brought to court and tried for actual crimes, only this one whistle blower.
But recently Democratic Congressman Moran, of Virginia, has asked for a pardon for Kirakou:
More on this story at this tiny url link:
http://tinyurl.com/moh35kr
Or else here if you are good a cutting and pasting long entries:
http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2014/11/20/congressman-criticizes-selective-prosecution-of-cia-whistleblower-john-kiriakou-calls-for-pardon/#at_pco=cfd-1.0&at_ab=-&at_pos=6&at_tot=8&at_si=54ea3a6852856864
From the above article:
On the floor of House of Representatives on November 17, Virginia Democratic Representative Jim Moran put forward a stinging rebuke of the selective prosecution of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou. He asked President Barack Obama to pardon Kiriakou and called the fifteen-year CIA veteran an American hero.
Kiriakou was the first member of the CIA to publicly acknowledge that torture was official US policy under President George W. Bushs administration. He was convicted in October 2012 after he pled guilty to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act (IIPA). He was sentenced to two and a half years in jail in January 2013, and reported to Federal Correctional Institution Loretto in Pennsylvania on February 28, 2013, where he has been serving his sentence. (Firedoglake has been publishing Kiriakous letters from prison written as Letters from Loretto.)
malaise
(268,998 posts)No people lie back and tolerate what was done to their own by outsiders in an illegal war and occupation.
Now they're lying about said consequences. In WW2 they would have called them the resistance.
Sadly the neo-cons want perpetual war for profit.
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)WWII, the Iraqi people were our allies.
EX500rider
(10,848 posts)After Rashid Ali al-Gaylani's coup in 1941 they were axis aligned causing the British to invade with a military occupation lasting till 1947.
malaise
(268,998 posts)only self-serving interests.
The Soviet Union was also a Western ally.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)era in my book. The people who got medals are largely war criminals and a disgrace to their country. Those who selectively prosecuted him as retaliation for breaking silence are the worst.
When will Hollywood stop glorifying as heroes psychopathic mass shooters in Special Forces and CIA officers who bear direct responsibility for allowing known terrorists into the United States? The commercial success of propaganda films such as Zero Dark Thirty and American Sniper is symptomatic of a mass schizophrenia in America.
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)Films could not be made, due to the lank of financing available during what are tough economic times.
CIA-produced. (Perhaps.)
leveymg
(36,418 posts)enid602
(8,619 posts)Saddam was tried and put tto death. In retrospect, he probably deserved an award.
Savannahmann
(3,891 posts)Let we forget Lynndie England was sentenced to three years. Utterly ignored was the lack of supervision, inadmissible was the CIA agents who directed the actions. After all, the CIA agent isn't in the chain of command of a soldier, so the Civilian could not legally give orders to the soldier despite being told to do whatever this guy wants by her Officers.
So we sent the tool to prison while ignoring the hand that directed it, or the mind that conceived it.
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)Your last sentence is an excellent contribution to the discussion, as that is exactly how we handled it.