Thursday, July 4, 2013

CIA Whistleblower Kiriakou to Snowden: ‘Do not cooperate with the FBI’

The former CIA analyst, John Kiriakou, who spoke out against the CIA's illegal torture program (use of waterboarding as an interrogation tool against suspected terrorists) and for telling the public that torture was official US government policy, wrote an open letter of support just published from behind bars to Edward Snowden.

In a letter dated June 13 and published Tuesday by Firedoglake Kiriakou wrote:
“Thank you for your revelations of government wrongdoing over the past week,” Kiriakou writes. “You have done the country a great public service.”
“I know that it feels like the weight of the world is on your shoulders right now, but as Americans begin to realize that we are devolving into a police state, with the loss of civil liberties that entails, they will see your actions for what they are: heroic.”

Kiriakou also offered this advice to Snowden:
“First, find the best national security attorneys money can buy,” writes Kiriakou. “I was blessed to be represented by legal titans and, although I was forced to take a plea in the end, the shortness of my sentence is a testament to their expertise.”

“Second, establish a website that your supporters can follow your case, get your side of the story and, most importantly, make donations to support your defense.”

“DO NOT, under any circumstances, cooperate with the FBI,” Kiriakou warns. “FBI agents will lie, trick and deceive you. They will twist your words and play on your patriotism to entrap you. They will pretend to be people they are not — supporters, well-wishers and friends — all the while wearing wires to record your out-of-context statements to use against you. The FBI is the enemy; it’s a part of the problem, not the solution.”

“I wish you the very best of luck,” Kiriakou writes before signing off. “I hope you can get to Iceland quickly and safely. There you will find a people and a government who care about the freedoms that we hold dear and for which our forefathers and veterans fought and died.”

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