Secret CIA Program Hunted Down Leaders of Colombian Leftist Group/Secret CIA Program Hunted Down Leaders of Colombian Leftist GroupCIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou Needs Your Help!

Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org) AlterNet [1] / By Alex Kane [2] Secret CIA Program Hunted Down Leaders of Colombian Leftist Group December 23, 2013 | The Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency have provided covert help to Colombia’s government to hunt down and kill leaders of a leftist rebel group. The Washington Post’s Dana Priest reported [3] on the secret program in a big story published over the weekend. In 2003, after the Bush administration authorized the covert program, the CIA and NSA began providing real-time intelligence to the Colombian government to help their battle against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, better known by their Spanish acronym, FARC. The program, which targets a U.S.-declared terrorist organization, has been kept secret from the public, and the Obama administration has continued it. In addition to intelligence, the program included the U.S. giving the Colombian military a particularly effective weapon: a $30,000 GPS guidance kit that transforms an inaccurate bomb into a smart bomb that can kill an individual. Geo-coordinates are programmed into the bomb’s computer. One of the smart bombs was used to launch a cross-border attack against a FARC leader in Ecuador. At least 24 FARC leaders have been killed as a result of the coordination between the U.S. and Colombia. The Colombian military has been fighting the leftist group since the 1960s. The violent insurgent group has been repeatedly accused of human rights violations and has kidnapped Colombian civilians, which in addition to drug trafficking helps fund the groups. The Colombian government, a strong U.S. ally, has also been accused of human rights violations in their fight against leftist forces in the country, including non-armed actors. But since late 2012, peace talks between the two sides have taken place. Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/world/secret-cia-program-hunted-down-leaders-colombian-leftist-group Links: [1] http://alternet.org [2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/alex-kane [3] http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2013/12/21/covert-action-in-colombia/ CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou Needs Your Help! Fri, Dec 20, 2013 War Dollars Home John Kiriakou remains the only person from the Bush Administration era to have been incarcerated, or even tried, over issues of torture. His crime? Blowing the whistle on it. In 2012 the Obama Administration brought charges against Mr. Kiriakou because of his conversations with journalists about US torture and his supposed disclosure of an undercover agent. Since entering prison, Mr. Kiriakou has released a series of letters detailing his conditions and thoughts. Now he needs your help! Nine months into his 30-month sentence, Mr. Kiriakou is seeking to be granted at least nine months in a halfway house so that he may “resume productive contributions to society.” He has put a call out to all supporters to help him push for a halfway house transfer by writting letters to the Bureau of Prisons residential reentry director, Erlinda Hernandez, and Federal Bureau of Prisons director Charles Samuels. Let’s make sure he knows that the peace community supports him. Below is a sample letter (copied from the Fayetteville, NC Quaker House) and the addresses of Ms. Hernandez and Mr. Samuels. Please take five minutes of your day for someone who gave up 30 months to spread the truth! Mr. Charles Samuels, Director Bureau of Prisons Federal Bureau of Prisons 320 First St., NW, Washington, DC 20534 Erlinda Hernandez Bureau of Prisons Residential Reentry Office P.O. Box 7000 Butner, NC 27509 Dear Mr. Samuels / Ms. Hernandez, I am writting to ask that you grant inmate John C. Kiriakou 79637-083 at least nine months of halfway house time so that he may resume productive contributions to society. He should not be in prison. Mr. Kiriakou, a former CIA intelligence analyst, earned numerous commendations in nearly 15 years at the CIA some of which were spent undercover overseas chasing Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. He received 12 CIA Exceptional Performance Awards, the Sustained Superiour Performance Award, the Counterterrorism Service Medal, and the State Department’s Meritorious Honor Award with medal. In 2008, Mr. Kiriakou confirmed the name of a former CIA colleague to a reporter writting a book on the Agency. The name was never made public and Mr. Kiriakou, under threat of more severe terms and financial ruin, pled guilty to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison. John Kiriakou is an anti-torture whistle blower who was brave enough to speak out against torture, which is against our country’s principles. Article 2 of the UN Convention Against Torture states: “No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.” Mr. Kiriakou never tortured anyone yet he is the only person to be prosecuted in relation to the torture program of the Busth Administration. We believe that Mr. Kiriakou is an honorable and patriotic American. He does not deserve to be made an example of wrong doing. We ask that he be granted at least nine months of halfway house time so that he may begin his life again as a valuable member of society and as a father to his five children. Thank you for your attention to this message, Signature Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/ "The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs