Thanks

“But, to the matter at hand, I still have questions about who John Kiriakou is. Aside from his being a retired CIA officer of undetermined grade, it appears that he now has a job in the business. . . and when I say “the business,” I mean “the industry.”

Lindsay Beyerstein reported yesterday that Kiriakou, who is credited as a “security consultant” on the upcoming Paramount release The Kite Runner, was connected with the film’s producers by “lobbyists from Viacom.”

The film adaptation of the Khaled Hosseini novel has been the center of some controversy of late…”

(snip)

Several papers credit Rich Klein, a “Middle East expert” with Kissinger McLarty Associates (KLA), as having made many of the arrangements for the evacuation. Klein seems to be the go-to guy for many productions looking to film in the Middle East. KLA is a K Street consulting firm formed by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Mack McLarty, the former White House Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton. (I do no know if John Kiriakou is connected in any way with KLA, nor do I know if KLA is the Viacom lobbyist that Beyerstein references.)

It’s a tangled, but interesting connection. One, of course, not mentioned by Ross or ABC. It is also a connection made more interesting when you note the Nightline feature that will appear one day after it aired the Kiriakou piece—that would be an interview with the makers of. . . wait for it. . . The Kite Runner.

(my emphasis)

This is a great post on Kiriakou too.

Here’s an interesting section:

Kiriakou will claim that the activities of the interrogators were closely directly by superiors at CIA Headquarters back in the US. “It wasn’t up to individual interrogators to decide, ‘Well, I’m gonna slap him.’ Or, ‘I’m going to shake him.’ Or, ‘I’m gonna make him stay up for 48 hours.’ Each one of these steps, even though they’re minor steps, like the intention shake, or the open-handed belly slap, each one of these had to have the approval of the deputy director for operations.… The cable traffic back and forth was extremely specific. And the bottom line was these were very unusual authorities that the [CIA] got after 9/11. No one wanted to mess them up. No one wanted to get in trouble by going overboard. So it was extremely deliberate.” [ABC News, 12/10/2007] Kiriakou also will say, “This isn’t something done willy-nilly. This isn’t something where an agency officer just wakes up in the morning and decides he’s going to carry out an enhanced technique on a prisoner. This was a policy made at the White House, with concurrence from the National Security Council and the Justice Department” (see Mid-March 2002). [London Times, 12/12/2007]

(my emphasis)

BTW…

bc of the blogger chick’s shit,

Can I get THAT on a t-shirt?

And once again, superb work EW. This stinks. Wonder what Sullivan will do? What can CREW do? (I know bmaz addressed that a bit @ 3 and 4).

I think he’s a lowlife.

-G

As a general matter, I doubt it would come as a shock exactly that mega firms & Beltway boutiques are accomplished in feeding the egos of high level administration types & those who fancy themselves as such, and expert in getting those who consult them to draw on initial consultation funds that are available under quite reasonable conditions from specialty insurers, whose underwriters are typically thrilled with those insured who demonstrate a highly responsible level of risk awareness by contacting them to get appropriate legal advice as early as possible.

Also, I have a memory of this or something very like it getting raised during your series of posts introducing us to some of the more dubious assignments in Holder’s career back in 2008. I could go back to check for the particular billing, but might not be able to get back on it for a day or two.