# "Kill them all"

> **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: ""Kill them all"," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kill-them-all/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The one-line departure hug John Kiriakou says he got from his own CIA boss, an elegant, thousand-dollar-suit man he calls John, whom he had joked belonged in the State Department, on the day Kiriakou left Washington to become chief of counterterrorism operations in Pakistan after 9/11. Kiriakou uses it as the compressed summary of the mood inside the building he was leaving behind.*

- **Setting:** [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) headquarters, the day before Kiriakou left for [Pakistan](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/pakistan) in early 2002
- **Kiriakou's boss:** An elegant, thousand-dollar-suit officer named John, whom he had joked *"really belonged in the State Department"*
- **The line:** Whispered into Kiriakou's ear during a farewell hug, *"Kill them all"*
- **Kiriakou's answer:** *"Really, John? We're already there"*
- **Boss's repeat:** Hands on Kiriakou's shoulders, *"Kill them all"*
- **Kiriakou's reading:** The line was the mood of the leadership after 9/11, *"we can''t bring back these 3,000 people, but we sure can kill a lot of the bad guys"*

**"Kill them all"** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s canonical scene for the mood inside CIA headquarters in the weeks after 9/11, a whispered instruction from his own boss during the farewell hug on the day before Kiriakou left for [Pakistan](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/pakistan) to run counterterrorism operations there.

## The setting

Kiriakou had volunteered *"like everybody in the building"* to go somewhere and do something after 9/11. The leadership finally accepted: chief of counterterrorism operations in Pakistan, leaving tomorrow. He decided to stop at headquarters to say goodbye before flying out. His frame at the time was practical: *"not everybody's going to make it home, and I don't know what's going to happen out there."*[1][2]

## The hug

The boss he went to say goodbye to was, Kiriakou says, *"a very elegant, very bright guy. Always with the thousand-dollar suits. We always joked that he really belonged in the State Department. He would have been sort of the stereotypical ambassador."* His name was John, the same as Kiriakou's.[2][3]

*"He gave me a hug and wished me best of luck. And when he leaned in, he whispered to me, 'Kill them all.'"*[3]

Kiriakou's answer: *"Really, John? We're already there."* His boss backed up, took him by the shoulders, and said it again: *"Kill them all."*[3]

## The reading

Kiriakou treats the exchange as compression rather than aberration. *"That was typical of the leadership at the CIA. Like, well, we can't bring back these 3,000 people, but we sure can kill a lot of the bad guys. And that's what they set out to do."*[3][4]

## See also

- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)
- [Cofer Black](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cofer-black)
- [Enhanced interrogation](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/enhanced-interrogation)

## Sources

1. CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou on accountability and CIA’s history | UpFront (2026-08-02), at 06:48. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcdQYoQW8e4&t=408s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-02-al-jazeera-english-cia-whistleblower-on-accountability-and-cia-s-history/
2. CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou on accountability and CIA’s history | UpFront (2026-08-02), at 07:21. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcdQYoQW8e4&t=441s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-02-al-jazeera-english-cia-whistleblower-on-accountability-and-cia-s-history/
3. CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou on accountability and CIA’s history | UpFront (2026-08-02), at 07:52. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcdQYoQW8e4&t=472s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-02-al-jazeera-english-cia-whistleblower-on-accountability-and-cia-s-history/
4. CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou on accountability and CIA’s history | UpFront (2026-08-02), at 08:23. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcdQYoQW8e4&t=503s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-02-al-jazeera-english-cia-whistleblower-on-accountability-and-cia-s-history/

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