Dear GAP Supporters:
We'd like to invite you to a special event next Wednesday (Jan. 23), when CIA/Anti-torture whistleblower and GAP client John Kiriakou will be honored with the unveiling of his portrait! This portrait, the newest edition of prominent artist Robert Shetterly's "Americans Who Tell the Truth" project, will be unveiled just two days prior to Kiriakou's sentencing. Please join us!
Wednesday, January 23, 8:30 - 10:30 p.m.
Busboys & Poets
2021 14th Street, NW, Washington D.C.
Light refreshments will be served. As space is very limited, please RSVP to GAP Communications Director Dylan Blaylock at dylanb@whistleblower.org.
Kiriakou, Shetterly and GAP National Security & Human Rights Director Jesselyn Radack will speak during the program. Additionally, noted jazz pianist Mary Anne Driscoll will premiere a new composition at the event, based on Kiriakou's words and actions.
The "Americans Who Tell the Truth" portrait series features notable truth-tellers from American history. Many prominent whistleblowers have been featured in the series, including Daniel Ellsberg, Frank Serpico, Coleen Rowley, and GAP client Thomas Drake.
We hope to see you there!
Background on Kiriakou
Kiriakou is a CIA veteran who headed counterterrorism operations in Pakistan after 9/11, organized the team operation that captured suspected al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah, and refused to be trained in torture interrogation tactics. In December 2007, Kiriakou gave an on-camera interview to ABC News in which he disclosed that Zubaydah was "waterboarded" and that "waterboarding" was torture – making him the first CIA officer to publicly label the action as torture. His interview also helped expose the CIA's torture program as policy, rather than the actions of a few rogue agents.
For these and other actions, in January 2011, Kiriakou became the sixth whistleblower charged with violating the Espionage Act by the Obama administration. These six prosecutions are more than all previous presidential administrations combined. Late last year, Kiriakou pled guilty to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act in exchange for the government dropping all other charges against him. Kiriakou is now the sole CIA officer who faces jail time for any action involving the federal government's torture program, despite being a whistleblower on it.
