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[#Podcast] #LawAndDisorder, September 9, 2024

#September11, 2001: Lessons Learned And Overlooked

"It has been 23 years ago this week since the attacks on September 11, 2001 in New York City, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, PA, killing nearly 3,000 people and injuring more than 6,000. On that day, the United States had a choice: The #GeorgeWBush administration could have treated the attacks as a violation of US and international law, launched a criminal investigation, and brought the perpetrators to justice in accordance with the rule of law. Instead, President Bush waged #EndlessWars against #Afghanistan and #Iraq, pushed through Congress the USA #PatriotAct, opened the notorious detention center at #GuantanamoBay which remain to this day, rounded up Muslims and South Asians for #IndefiniteDetention, initiated a wave of #CivilLiberties and #HumanRights violations, and committed wholesale torture against detainees and others.

"To assess the legacy of 9/11 and the lessons learned and the lessons overlooked, we’ve invited someone who was at the center of Bush’s #WarOnTerror. John Kiriakou is a journalist, former CIA counterterrorism officer, former senior investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and former counterterrorism consultant for ABC News.

"In 2007, Kiriakou blew the whistle on the CIA’s torture program, telling ABC News that the #CIA tortured prisoners, that torture was official U.S. government policy, and that the policy had been approved by President George W. Bush. He knew what he was talking about. In 2002, he was responsible for the capture in Pakistan of #AbuZubaydah, then believed to be the third-ranking official in al-Qaeda.

"He became the sixth #whistleblower indicted by the #Obama administration under the #EspionageAct of 1917 — a law designed to punish spies. He served 23 months in prison as a result of his revelations.

"In 2012, the #RalphNader family honored #Kiriakou with the Joe A. Callaway Award for #CivicCourage, an award given to individuals who 'advance truth and justice despite the personal risk it creates.' He won the PEN Center USA’s prestigious First Amendment Award in 2015, the first Blueprint International Whistleblowing Prize for Bravery and Integrity in the Public Interest in 2016, and also in 2016 the Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence, given by retired CIA, FBI, and NSA officers."

Listen:
https://lawanddisorder.org/category/criminalizing-dissent/

#CIASponsoredTerror #CivilRights, #CriminalizingDissent #ExtraordinaryRendition #FreeSpeech #HumanRights #IraqWar #BushAdministraiton #HumanRights #HumanRightsViolation #TargetingMuslims #Torture #WarResister #Whistleblowers #CivilLiberties #CivilLibertiesRadio #EndlessWar