John Kiriakou Interview: Prison Blog and the Setup Attempt

• 1:03:15Tim introduces John Kiriakou's book Doing Time Like a Spy, about his 30-month prison sentence and how CIA skills helped him survive.
• 1:04:07Kiriakou was one of the first anti-torture whistleblowers, confirming in a 2007 ABC News interview that CIA torture was official U.S. policy approved by the president.
• 1:04:51Tim asks about Kiriakou writing a blog while in prison that "completely pissed them off" and cost him early release time.
• 1:05:20Kiriakou explains the blog started accidentally when a friend asked him to write an open letter to supporters, which eventually reached Arianna Huffington and the Huffington Post.
• 1:06:08Prison officials showed Kiriakou a picture of an Arab prisoner and claimed he called Pakistan saying Kiriakou told him to kill him.
• 1:06:47Kiriakou's response to the threat: "I can kill this guy with my thumb," noting the prisoner was 5'4", 120 pounds.
• 1:07:06Kiriakou realizes the setup makes no sense—the prisoner wouldn't call Pakistan if he speaks Arabic, since they don't speak Arabic in Pakistan.
• 1:07:33When Kiriakou confronts the prisoner on the yard, he learns the officials told him the same lie about Kiriakou calling Washington to have him killed.
• 1:07:59Tim asks what Kiriakou thinks the guards were trying to do; Kiriakou explains they wanted to incite violence between them for amusement.
• 1:08:51Kiriakou explains that in 2002 he was the only one of 14 CIA trainees who declined to be trained in torture techniques on ethical grounds.

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