# The families of the captured

> **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: "The families of the captured," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-families-of-the-captured/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's statement that the wives and children of men captured in the post-9/11 raids in Pakistan were separated from them and sent back to their home countries — and that the prisoners were not told, and were left believing their wives were still in American custody.*

- **Context:** Night raids in Pakistan after the September 11 attacks
- **What was done:** Women and children separated from the men
- **Where they were sent:** Back to their home countries
- **What the prisoners were told:** Nothing; they were left believing the wives were still held

**The families of the captured** concerns what [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) says was done with the wives and children of the men taken in the night raids he ran in [Pakistan](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/pakistan-station-2002) after the September 11 attacks.[1]

## The state the prisoners were in

Kiriakou describes the men as beyond resistance by the time they were moved. Asked about their body language as they boarded the aircraft, he says most of them just walked like sheep onto the back of the plane.[2]

The reason he gives is cumulative rather than any one thing. All of it happened in the middle of the night; the men were exhausted and terrified; many had just escaped from [Tora Bora](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/tora-bora), which had been bombed heavily; and then at two in the morning the Americans broke down the door and seized them.[1]

## The separation, and what was withheld

A great many of the men were married and had children, and the women and children were separated from the men at the point of capture. Kiriakou says the women and children were then sent back to their home countries.[1]

That outcome was not communicated. In his own words: *"but we didn't tell the prisoners that — so we led them to believe that we still had the wives in custody."*[1]

## See also

- [Pakistan Station (2002)](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/pakistan-station-2002)
- [Tora Bora](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/tora-bora)
- [Prisoner disposition from Pakistan](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/prisoner-disposition-from-pakistan)
- [Enhanced interrogation techniques](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/enhanced-interrogation)
- [Guantanamo Bay](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/guantanamo-bay)

## Sources

1. David Gornoski Archives (2019-08-08), at 06:20. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6OZ4ClS_uQ&t=380s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-08-08-david-gornoski-archives-david-gornoski-archives-W6OZ4C/
2. David Gornoski Archives (2019-08-08), at 05:47. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6OZ4ClS_uQ&t=347s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-08-08-david-gornoski-archives-david-gornoski-archives-W6OZ4C/

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