Admiral William J. Crowe was a former Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. He visited Bahrain during John Kiriakou’s posting there; Kiriakou was assigned by lot as Crowe’s control officer for the visit — responsible for the schedule, transportation, and meeting notes.[1][2]
The Prime-Minister handshake
Crowe was the senior U.S. official present during Kiriakou’s confrontational handshake with the Bahraini Prime Minister, Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, in the private elevator vestibule of the Emir’s diwan. The Prime Minister gripped Kiriakou’s hand and refused to release it while smiling at him; on releasing it, the Prime Minister said: “I have my eye on you, Kiriakou.” Kiriakou’s response: “Yes, your highness. I would expect nothing less.” On the way down in the elevator, Admiral Crowe and the U.S. Ambassador asked Kiriakou what the confrontation had been about. Kiriakou’s answer concerned the Bahraini Interior Ministry’s recent beating death of a fifteen-year-old boy who had marched in a pro-democracy demonstration — an episode Kiriakou had been writing up for the U.S. Human Rights Report and discussing at parties from his (bugged) home.[3][4][5]