# Joko Widodo

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Joko Widodo," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/joko-widodo/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*Indonesian general; former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Indonesia; banned from the United States on human-rights grounds for personally killing six pro-democracy college student protesters by stabbing each in the heart in front of the others; subsequently elected Vice President of Indonesia; subject of an unsuccessful 2008 reputation-rehabilitation campaign conducted by John Rendon's firm with Karl Rove and John Kiriakou.*

- **Country:** Indonesia
- **Former position:** Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Indonesia
- **Banned from the United States:** On human-rights grounds, personally killed six pro-democracy student protesters
- **Method:** Lined up the six and stabbed each in the heart
- **Subsequent political career:** Dropped 2008 presidential bid; elected Vice President of Indonesia
- **Travel ban status:** Never lifted

**General Joko Widodo** is an Indonesian military officer and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Indonesia, banned from entry to the United States on human-rights grounds for personally killing six pro-democracy college student protesters by stabbing each in the heart in front of the others. [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s description:

> Yeah, you know, we can do this and we can do that. We've got TV commercials and radio commercials. And I said, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. General, with all due respect, there's video of you on YouTube stabbing six peaceful protesters in the heart. How do we get past that? You're banned from the United States for human rights reasons. We can't just pretend it didn't happen." … He lined these guys up. It was six college students. He lined them up and one by one stabbed each of them in the heart.[1][2][3]

## The 2008 rehabilitation effort

In 2008 [John Rendon](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-rendon)'s firm engaged [Karl Rove](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/karl-rove) as bad cop and Kiriakou as good cop on a contract, for Kiriakou, $25,000 to write four op-eds, to rehabilitate Widodo's reputation in the U.S. press in support of his Indonesian presidential bid. The op-eds, framing Widodo as "misunderstood," were submitted to the *Wall Street Journal*, the *Los Angeles Times*, and the *New York Times* among others; none were published. Widodo dropped out of the presidential race and was subsequently elected Vice President of Indonesia. The U.S. travel ban was never lifted.[4][5][6][7]

## See also

- [John Rendon](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-rendon)
- [Karl Rove](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/karl-rove)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Sources

1. Mossad, Terrifying CIA Technology, Blackwater & The Most Secret CIA Unit (2025-08-31), at 3:53:59. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3FxH39oYsA&t=14039s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-31-dalton-fischer-mossad-blackwater/
2. Mossad, Terrifying CIA Technology, Blackwater & The Most Secret CIA Unit (2025-08-31), at 3:54:30. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3FxH39oYsA&t=14070s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-31-dalton-fischer-mossad-blackwater/
3. Mossad, Terrifying CIA Technology, Blackwater & The Most Secret CIA Unit (2025-08-31), at 3:55:01. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3FxH39oYsA&t=14101s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-31-dalton-fischer-mossad-blackwater/
4. Mossad, Terrifying CIA Technology, Blackwater & The Most Secret CIA Unit (2025-08-31), at 3:52:56. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3FxH39oYsA&t=13976s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-31-dalton-fischer-mossad-blackwater/
5. Mossad, Terrifying CIA Technology, Blackwater & The Most Secret CIA Unit (2025-08-31), at 3:53:27. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3FxH39oYsA&t=14007s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-31-dalton-fischer-mossad-blackwater/
6. Mossad, Terrifying CIA Technology, Blackwater & The Most Secret CIA Unit (2025-08-31), at 3:55:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3FxH39oYsA&t=14131s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-31-dalton-fischer-mossad-blackwater/
7. Mossad, Terrifying CIA Technology, Blackwater & The Most Secret CIA Unit (2025-08-31), at 3:56:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3FxH39oYsA&t=14163s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-31-dalton-fischer-mossad-blackwater/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/joko-widodo/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt