Former CIA Officer John Kiriakou Refuses to Apologize for India-Pakistan Conflict Assessment Despite Threats

Former CIA operative John Kiriakou, who served 15 years in the intelligence agency and was instrumental in counter-terrorism operations following the September 11 attacks, has found himself embroiled in controversy with Pakistan's political establishment.

A diplomatic incident has emerged after Kiriakou disclosed that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, attempted to pressure him into retracting statements he made regarding potential conflict between India and Pakistan.

In a deliberately provocative response, Kiriakou indicated he would use their apology demand letter as toilet tissue.

During an October interview with ANI, Kiriakou offered his professional assessment of a hypothetical Indo-Pakistani conflict, stating, "Nothing, literally nothing good will come of an actual war between India and Pakistan because the Pakistanis will lose. And I'm not talking about nuclear weapons. I'm talking just about a conventional war."

This analysis triggered significant backlash from Pakistani citizens, resulting in Kiriakou receiving numerous online threats and hostile messages.

"I said, in a conventional conflict, India would beat Pakistan because it has five times the people. The death threats... I've lost count of how many death threats I received," he explained during a November 18 YouTube podcast interview with Julian Dorey.

The PTI's formal letter strongly condemned his comments and demanded "an immediate apology" to "his excellency, the former prime minister [Imran Khan], to the members of the party [PTI], and to the people of Pakistan."

Kiriakou stated the correspondence came directly from the PTI's president. Since March 2023, former Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi has been leading the political organization.

Although his attorney advised maintaining "a low profile" and situational awareness, Kiriakou replied to the party, writing, "In regards to your demand for an apology, I wipe my a** with your demands for an apology."

He has received no further communication from the political party.

Beyond this controversy, Kiriakou's career includes leading the 2002 operation that captured high-ranking al-Qaeda official Abu Zubaydah. In 2007, he became a whistleblower, exposing the CIA's "torture programme" during a television interview, which resulted in a 23-month imprisonment. The charges were subsequently dismissed, with Kiriakou maintaining he has "no regrets, no remorse."