If the name might not be familiar to you, you may recognize his face... He's the "Ex-CIA" guy from YouTube.. Do you think he's credible and how much of his words are true? To what extent is he trustable?
What's your opinion on John Kiriakou
If the name might not be familiar to you, you may recognize his face... He's the "Ex-CIA" guy from YouTube.. Do you think he's credible and how much of his words are true? To what extent is he trustable?
24 Comments
mistermodal@lemmy.ml · 23 pts · 146d
He sucks. First of all nobody is "ex-CIA" and antiimperialist media needs to get that through their heads. He lied about being present at the torture of Abu Zubaydah. He was working at places that "tortured some folks", just not, you know, his main claim to fame. A good rubric to apply to whistleblowers is do they condemn the organization, disavow its personnel, cut all ties with it, and ultimately is their critique structural, merely careerist, or is it in fact a controlled self-critique by the org. Johncharlie Kirkiakou is kind of a codifying example of the shitty whistleblower, he is always moaning about how the CIA had never tortured anyone before the Bush administration and it was a Great Shame on the good Amerikan people etc, blow it out your ass "John"!!! They wrote manuals on that shit in the 50s. Fuck that guy read about the Office of Strategic Services, its postwar collaboration with Nazis, and the inextricable links between the CIA (emphasis on central), other first world intelligence agencies, fascist orgs, and private banking.
very_well_lost@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 146d
Kiriakou has serious "that happened" energy.
I'm not really qualified to guess how much of what he says is bullshit, and I'm sure you inevitably gain some stories being a CIA station chief or whatever, but the guy has a story about literally everything ever. He's been everywhere, he's met everyone, he knows everything about everything... and it really strains disbelief.
The guy obviously loves telling stories (and I'd even go so far as to say he's great at it), but I've gotta imagine that the vast majority of it is seriously embellished if not outright bullshit — especially when so much of what he says seems designed to paint him favorably.
mistermodal@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 145d
I bet he tells stories off-camera about how people eat up the psyops he runs without even really thinking deeply about blatantly ridiculous stories
ByteMe@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 146d
Funny enough he was in a documentary about 17 Noembri
Mrkawfee@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 145d
Also if he was a real whistleblower I'm sure he'd have had a car accident or tragic mugging gone wrong or suicide by now.
livestreamedcollapse@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 146d
Also Jared Leto's high school teacher for american government & history classes.
https://xcancel.com/0ddette/status/2041362458351108213?s=20
mistermodal@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 145d
WHAT? I did not even need to go more insane about this. Also that account has weird personal lore (nevermind)
livestreamedcollapse@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 145d
Oh I don't know anything about the account posting the video lol, I just grabbed whatever clip of that interview between Leto & Kiriakou first appeared in a search
Mrkawfee@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 145d
He said he's fluent in Arabic and thats how he befriended and turned an al Qaeda guy in Pakistan but I heard him speak Arabic and its lousy and he would stand out as a foreigner a mile away.
phoenixz@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 145d
Any language learned as an adult will be extremely difficult to speak well, to the point of sounding native
Mrkawfee@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 145d
Youre right but in the interview he made out like he was able to blend in with his Arabic.
Vandalismo@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 143d
I've already seen he say that he would hire people to bring information and not get it himself because his accent was obvious "even in my fluent arabic"
digdilem@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 146d
I think he's fairly credible, but it's obvious he also likes talking and being the center of attention so I suspect will exaggerate for attention. Being Ex-CIA guy is also his business, so he has motive for continuing to appear interesting and relevant. I think it's prudent to remain a little sceptical.
Jarix@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 146d
At the same time him being an actual ex CIA agent shows he has very successful self control and modulation, unlike many other internet famous people
RoddyStiggs@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 145d
He's got a good barber
FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website · 3 pts · 146d
I have never heard of him. In general, I don't find YouTube a reliable source for anything controversial. I think the CIA falls under that umbrella. So I would be very skeptical.
olympicyes@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 145d
I’ve wondered about him too. He’s certainly a good story teller.
Gates9@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 145d
Nobody leaves the Company
Diva@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 145d
Don't trust him at all, absolutely still CIA.
Vandalismo@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 143d
Everything about the CIA and i will take it with a kilogram of salt.
treadful@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 146d
47 cruise missiles
jerebear39@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 132d
He's a great storyteller, I love listening to his podcasts and interviews. I'm not gonna comment on how credible he is or isn't, I feel we should all exercise critical thinking when listening to anyone and make a judgment on the merits of what someone is saying than blindly believing everything someone says is true.
BilboBargains@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 146d
They put him in prison for being a whistleblower so he at least has some scruples.
HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club · 0 pts · 146d
I think he's credible as a witness for what he's seen. He seems believable, but I haven't looked into any criticism of what he's said.