Title: Full Video: Kiriakou Portrait Unveiling @ Busboys & Poets
Show: Government Accountability Project
Date: 2013-02-07
URL: https://youtu.be/iJf88y5NwJw
Duration: 46:00

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[00:01] [Music] get I know it's late in the evening my name is B Edwards and I'm the executive director at the government accountability project we're called Gap um

[00:32] [Applause] we are um a law firm and an NGO and we have spent about 35 years protecting and defending whistleblowers in the United States and increasingly abroad um we're here tonight of course to honor John kiraku who is a gap client and a whistleblower um and we're very pleased to have Robert

[01:04] chevrol here for this event and and we wanted to welcome you um Gap is um is in the business of protecting and defending whistleblowers and um I wanted to say a few words about the work that we do before we proceed with the with the um program we work in a multifaceted way with whistleblowers because as I'm sure

[01:34] many of you know it is a very difficult task to defend a whistleblower in court the uh judicial system is not friendly to whistleblowers in this country or in many other countries so but we do provide legal counsel to whistleblowers who find themselves in the crosshairs of their employers because they have exposed corruption fraud abuse of authority waste misconduct and this does happen um

[02:06] frequently and we think it's increasingly important uh as the United States has deregulated sector after sector leaving single individual whistleblowers as kind of the last gasp of the public interest um the voice of the public um in corporations in government and in intergovernmental organizations we also work uh with the Congress and governmental agencies

[02:38] trying to strengthen whistleblower legislation as many of you know in November President Obama signed the Whistleblower protection enhancement act which was the culmination of a 133-year campaign to strengthen whistleblower protections uh at the federal level because Court decisions over time time had systematically weakened the protections that were afforded by the wi of blower protection act passed in 1989 so this was a tremendous Victory um last

[03:12] year uh we also work with government agencies to make sure that the laws are enforced this is increasingly difficult as many of you know and we work with the media to call attention to uh the disclosures that our whistleblower clients make these disclosures are are uh as you'll hear tonight fundamental to the public interest um in this country and we also uh organized public education campaigns to try to affect the

[03:44] change that would address the problems that whistleblowers bring to to life um we are here tonight to talk about John kiraku in this particular case uh John joh is the subject of a portrait that has been painted by Robert shedly part of a series of portraits America of Americans who tell the truth and John had a particularly important and significant

[04:16] truth to tell to the American public uh a few words about about him he is a veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency as most of you know if you followed the case uh he organized the team in Pakistan after 911 that captured Abu Zeda in 2002 uh allegedly one of the most important Al-Qaeda leaders at the time

[04:47] um at that point John was asked if he would be willing to learn enhanced interrogation techniques uh which of course later came to be exposed as torture and he refused to learn those techniques some years later in 2007 he was interviewed on ABC News and was asked about the capture of Aluma what happened to him after that and it was in

[05:18] that interview that John revealed that there was a torture program that was um underway and had been executed for some years after 911 that it was not the work of a few Rogue agents here and there it was policy in the United States it had a system a manual a staff a budget um and this was a shocking disclosure to make for me I I came of age in the

[05:52] Vietnam uh era and I remember when Daniel ellsburg uh released the Pentagon pap and what a scandal it was when Americans realized that there there we had been essentially tricked into a war in uh in Southeast Asia and for all of the repression and the dishonesty of the government that was revealed at that time I have to say I never thought I would be living in a

[06:23] country that would send a whistleblower like John to jail and it's is truly a a shocking development that um I think really needs to be needs to be remarked uh I wanted then to um go on and introduce our our um National Security and human rights program director she will also speak about

[06:54] John's case she is jine Rak I think um many of you know know her she herself was a whistleblower at the justice department uh who revealed the unethical treatment of a prisoner in the hands of of US forces after Jess speaks uh robertt chedle will also speak about uh the portrait series and we'll have the unveiling of the portrait and then we will hear from the man of the hour John

[07:27] kir so Jess [Applause] um well it's really difficult to be here under these circumstances it's an absolute travesty of justice that the only person who will

[07:58] go to jail in connection with the bush era torture program is the person who blew the whistle on torture John kiraku refused to participate in torture at a time when government officials were still claiming torture was a work of a few bad apples John helped Expos the truth that torture was a program approved at the highest levels

[08:30] of government he even had the audacity to say that water boarding is torture a conclusion with which our attorney general agrees John's guilty plea represents a tragic bookend to the torture narrative a sad and shameful chapter in our country's history I have always said that truth is not a partis is an issue

[09:01] unfortunately however the responsibility for torture and lack of accountability also lies squarely with both parties the Bush Administration ushered in an era of expanded executive power at the expense of individual liberties Bush orchestrated a policy of extraordinary rendition indefinite detention and torture the Obama Administration has failed to

[09:33] successfully roll back much of that executive power and has even expanded it to include assassination without due process and criminal prosecution of whistleblowers who expose fraud waste abuse and illegality the Obama Administration also holds responsibility for failing to hold accountable anyone anyone for the torture program

[10:03] including the lawyers who wrote the legal memoranda authorizing torture the officers who ordered torture the agents who carried it out and the operatives who destroyed the videotapes of it one of whom Jose Rodriguez who personally ordered the destruction of the videotapes and is enjoying a book tour right

[10:35] now now The Whistleblower John is the only one going to jail using the criminal justice system and the Draconian heavy-handed out of scope Espionage Act in particular as a tool for whistleblower retaliation and silencing dissent undermines not only the criminal justice system but democracy as a whole the Espionage Act

[11:06] is meant to go after spies not whistleblowers Rob shedly an amazing artist deserves enormous credit for seeing through the government's distorted picture of John kiraku and so many others and for recognizing John for what he is whistleblower and Truth teller who showed enormous Civic courage and standing up against an exposing one

[11:38] of the darkest chapters in US history I had the fortune of meeting Rob when he painted my portrait for a brainchild of his an exhibit called Americans who tell the truth I was astounded by the people with whom I I was honored to be pictured beneath each picture there's a quote from something each individual has said and it's an

[12:10] amazing series that's been traveling in exhibit around the country um and there was an initial printing of the book of the first portraits um the good thing is there are a lot of Truth tellers in America a lot of amazing people who are doing amazing things unfortunately we're still very isolated one from another often because of vindictive criminal prosecutions where we're tagged as

[12:41] traitors turn coats denters enemies of the state and that alienates us from our natural allies in the open government Community good government groups civil liberties groups and whistleblower organizations Rob thankfully has been able to bring us under one umbrella the truth and for that I am eternally grateful as are the many other people whose portraits I know he has drawn um

[13:14] I'm truly grateful Rob and you can tell us more about your project and thank you from the bottom of my heart [Applause] closer closer to the mic it's a sound man I know that guy

[13:46] thank you jeline that was that was a movie I and I want to thank gap for arranging and making this possible but of course what I really want to thank is John I'm a I'm a pter um you're a courageous Citizen and I think it's extraordinary what you've done and it's also an extraordinary price you're paying and so anything we can do um to bring attention to what's happening here and to try

[14:18] to make some justice out of this moment in which the law is being used to subvert Justice um will be the benefit of all of us I wanted to say a couple of words about the American to tell the truth project it's it's something I I um never expected to be doing and also didn't want to do exactly 11 years ago this month I was a surrealist who was supporting a family making a very different kind of paintings but as be

[14:50] suggested earlier you know we were being um led into another War by a an Administration that was using fear and propaganda and racism and fundamentalism to engineer and manipulate the American people into accepting an illegal and immoral War and the media was not doing anything really uh except you know sort of the alternative media to tell the real story

[15:22] that they should be doing in a democracy I live in a little town on the coast of Main and and I was thinking you know what in the world can I do at this moment to get a voice one consideration was just to leave the country I felt so ashamed of what this country was doing and its arrogance but I didn't really want to do that I think I've got to to fight what's going on and find some way to feel less alienated from my own country and it uh you know the first

[15:54] feelings I had were well I you know was what to do with all this anger and grief and you know most of us know that if that's what you throw at people uh they don't really want to see it and so the question became what to do and uh I finally came out of sort of a sense of Shame and thought well if I could instead of U obsessing about the people who are lying start surrounding myself with the people that I admire from the country you know basically I

[16:26] will feel a lot better and Where it All Began I thought instead of thinking all the time about Dick chain why don't I think about W Whitman and fr Douglas and Susan thean Elizabeth ktie St Alice Paul L Bar people Howard Zim you know why don't I just spend my time thinking about the people that I love who to me Define the best of this country and that's where this project began began with an idea to paint 50 portraits I never painted a portrait and to into

[16:59] these portraits words of those people and then use them hopefully to present to other people about actually what is the most noble thing about this country is the way individuals and organizations have fought to close the gap between what we say we are and what we actually do and to me that's where our real history is and the most important part of it but I want to say something about uh

[17:29] about John and how he fits into this my view of this history and and all these people like jesselyn like Tom Drake like hellberg like so many others who have tried to make this country more honest and it comes from you know just a couple days ago was U our Martin Luther King holiday and there's a a phrase he used in I Have a Dream speech the one that uh

[18:01] it's a phrase that is not talked about much but to me is one of the most defining of that speech in a peculiar way and I'll explain what I mean in the very first part of the speech he talks a little bit about the coming to to Washington to black people you know to cash a check that had been long uncashable and then he defines the American dream as the riches of freedom and the security of Justice you know he

[18:32] doesn't Define it in terms of material wealth or you know upward Mobility or you know just being able to do anything you want to do the riches of freedom and the security and Justice and I was looking at that phrase one day and I thought where where are we really with that and if you invert both those phrases you become a lot closer to where we really are the freedom of

[19:06] riches and the justice of security you know when you're so entitled that you think you have the freedom to take riches for yourselves and from the rest of the world that's basically the excuse for imperialism and when you think that your Justice is derived from your security rather than your your security derived from Justice then you get torture then you get unwed surveillance then you get

[19:36] preemptive Wars then you get all kinds of secrecy you get the National Security State and you get the necessity of someone like John who has to finally you know stand up and say I won't do this you can't do this somebody has to say no and I think it's incredibly important um you know it's it's a such a shame that the Integrity of the country often rests on single single individuals around

[20:06] issues like this to do the right thing and then pay the enormous price for it and so all of us you know have to be incredibly grateful um maryan Driscoll who about after John speaks he going to sing um and I I just want to say a word about her because about a year ago she got in touch with me I didn't know her she's this amazing jazz pianist who said she'd like to make a new American song book based on the quotes on the on the pits

[20:37] that I painted and we have now been for the last year working together it's extraordinary um on the way down we were talking about a lot about John and about his quote and I'm not going to read the quotes I actually want John to read it when we unveil the portrait but I just wanted to read the the first line of it and probably a lot of you know this but it starts out even if torture works it canot be tolerated and I think a lot of people would look at that statement and they say wait a minute we all know torture doesn't

[21:08] work why would you even say that it's very important to say that it's very important to say you know it's it's like you know um you know if you had a u a car without an engine in it and said you know this this thing is working so I we can't drive anyway but if you have a car with a really good engine in it and then say it's wrong to drive that car the only right thing to do is walk that's a whole

[21:39] different thing and to say you know even if torture works it's something that so defines our species as something we don't want to be uh that it's cannot be tolerated and so to me that just to say that you know that way you know because the excuse for it for years has been well it works and uh we need it and then if you think of if our Justice is

[22:11] derived from security then it's okay you know that justifies anyway I'm going to unbre this and John want you come up there and maybe help me do that and then read the quote on it and then [Applause]

[22:49] w [Applause] see if I can see this I got new classes last week even if torture works it cannot be tolerated not in one case or a thousand or a million if their efficacy becomes the measure of abor Acts all sorts of unspeakable crimes somehow become acceptable I may have found myself on the wrong side of the government on torture but I'm on the right side of

[23:20] history there are things we should not do even in the name of National Security one of them I now firmly believe is torture [Applause] as um I know Jess or B said these portraits are now 187 of them my goal was 50 and I have not been able to stop and I have no intention of stopping it's

[23:52] just too amazing what I'm learning the people I'm learning about and the history I'm learning about and we're also Americans to tell the truth is now working with Deborah merer and teaching for Change and the zad project and rethinking schools um the they travel to schools colleges museums libraries community centers all over the United States and you know having John's portrait in this collection is now going to be able to in a sense use him no

[24:22] matter where he is where they put it you know we're going to be able to use him to teach these values to American citizens everywhere [Applause] than please uh thanks please forgive the use of prepared remarks but uh I have to pass everything through my attorneys they say I have a tendency to slander

[31:10] Julia Fitzpatrick John Spano mik signatu Jim spon and my cousin Kip ree who's here as well and runs a Blog that's been completely supportive of me thank you also to Ralph nater and the nater Family Foundation Ralph nater has been steadfast in his support of me I was thrilled just to be in the same room with Ralph nater and get my picture taken with him and here I get phone calls now telling me all the things Ralph nater is doing for me it's it's really humbling um I'd like to thank Liberty University this is Jerry falwell's

[31:42] University when I was arrested Liberty University offered me work because torture is not Christian and as much an Odd Couple as we may be they have been steadfast in their support and so I want to thank them publicly um the Greek American Community has come out very strongly for me too and I wanted to thank the brothers of the helenic American uh Leadership Council and the uh American helenic educational and Progressive Association

[32:13] and finally they've been really great but the greatest the greatest person has been my wife Heather who unfortunately has the flu tonight and can't can't be here but um Heather Heather lost her job at the CIA just because she's married to me she was a she was a senior Cia officer and really one of the best analysts in the entire uh intelligence Community but she she had to leave that job just simply because she's married to me um I'm sorry

[32:45] about that I will say that our lives are better now that neither one of us is connected to the CIA but uh but that was really the wrong thing for them to do and I that ever since it happened with that said Heather has been completely Rock Solid in support of me and I couldn't possibly have gotten through this without her so thanks to them thanks to all of you for being here and thanks to Rob shev for this beautiful for [Applause]

[33:41] thank you John I want to make a little commercial plea and that is that John's terrific book The Reluctant spy is on sale out here um also the American to tell the truth book of the first 50 portraits is also here and posters of the portrait uh are also here the proceeds from these will benefit teaching for change Americans to tell the truth and John's defense fund so if

[34:12] you if some you're interested in the poster and I hope some of you might be we would both love to sign it thank you very much and now um Mar and Drisco is going to sing John's uh quote [Applause] first off I guess I can say thank you for here very I'm honored to be

[34:56] here

[35:26] for for [Music]

[36:22] even if T you was it canot [Music] beated a million

[36:53] [Music] see becomes the meure of [Music] a all of unspeakable [Music] crimes somehow become

[37:24] [Music] on the right side

[38:04] [Music] of my [Music]

[39:23] May on the side [Music] even if torture

[39:54] works it cannot be [Music] not in one for [Music]

[40:47] [Applause] it I just wanted to make sure we dedicated ourselves to the importance of John's work this evening and concentrated on his words and also he did tell me that his favorite musician is Pete

[41:18] Seager and in light of that and now having had the opportunity to meet John I am going to write a to about John in i' to leave [Music] you T [Music]

[41:50] [Applause] so thank you to Maran to jeline and to John and to Robert I did want to say one practical thing as you might imagine the events of the last few years have been financially ruinous for John and his

[42:22] family and to help his family while he Ison Gap is setting up a special fund you can make a tax exempt a tax deductible contribution to Gap indicate that it's for the John Kaku fund and we will make sure that it goes to the support of his family while he's in jail um we'll be hanging around here for a short while if you want to talk to any and all of us about whistleblowers we're

[42:54] here in the room until I think also again's books are sale in thank you very very much for coming andk [Applause]

[43:50] really good now it's perfect great shoulder go

[44:38] hey how are you good to meet you in person thanks for yeah we [Music]

[45:12] got's Hi how are you hey great yeah terrif thanks allk [Music] guys iate thank you very much

[45:43] [Music] very
