CIA Official Claims U.S. Tortured Prisoners St. Nicholas Awaits
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O C V ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ Bringing the news ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ to generations of ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915 The National Herald Greek Americans A WEEKLY GREEK AMERICAN PUBLICATION c v www.thenationalherald.com VOL. 11, ISSUE 531 December 15, 2007 $1.00 GREECE: 1.75 EURO CIA Official Victim of Alleged Sex Abuse Opens Up about his Life’s Nightmare Claims U.S. Former Parishioner from Chicago-Area Church: Tortured Scars of Molestation Will Always Be With Me By Theodore Kalmoukos had developed a deep level of trust Special to The National Herald in Mr. Katinas at the time, and was Prisoners therefore an easy target for the al- BOSTON – The man who first re- leged perpetrator, whom he now ported to the Archdiocese that he refers to as NK. Waterboarding is was allegedly molested as a teenag- He felt something was very er by then Rev. Nicholas Katinas, wrong with Mr. Katinas’ alleged ad- Necessary, but Still who is now defrocked, has broken vances and abuse at the time, he his long and painful silence in an said, but did not understand the Torture Kiriakou Says exclusive interview with The Na- full nature and scope of what he al- tional Herald and described his legedly underwent then. By Richard Esposito nearly lifelong nightmare. “I attended the Assumption and Brian Ross The Herald has specific knowl- Greek Orthodox church in Olympia ABC News edge of the alleged victim’s full Fields in the Chicago area with my identity, but at his request, the Her- family when I was a teenager, and I NEW YORK – A leader of the CIA ald will refrain from disclosing his started out being an altar boy. I met team that captured the first major identity at this time, and will in- Nicholas Katinas at that time, al Qaeda figure, Abu Zubaydah, stead refer to him as Olympia around the late 1960’s, at the age of says subjecting him to waterboard- Fields John Doe. Out of respect for 13 or 14. Then I joined the church ing was torture but necessary. this victim, his family, the Church basketball team, and I had a chance In the first public comment by and the Greek American communi- to attend the church regularly and any CIA officer involved in han- ty, the Herald will also refrain from be involved in its religious activi- dling high-value al Qaeda targets, publishing graphic details about ties,” he said. John Kiriakou, now retired, said the alleged abuse. “In retrospect, I didn’t really un- the technique broke Zubaydah in Olympia Fields John Doe, who is derstand what was going on at that less than 35 seconds. identified in the original lawsuit as time. In my teenage years, I was go- “The next day, he told his inter- “DZ,” told the Herald he served as ing through some very difficult rogator that Allah had visited him an altar boy under Mr. Katinas at emotional times, and I didn’t feel in his cell during the night and told the Assumption Church in Olympia comfortable discussing them with him to cooperate,” said Kiriakou in Fields, Illinois. He is a second-gen- my parents. So I turned to NK for an interview that was broadcast on eration American of Greek descent. help and counseling. In the begin- ABC News' “World News With AP/SYMELA PANTZARTZI He is proud of his Hellenic her- ning, he was professional and pro- Charles Gibson” and “Nightline.” Nationwide Strike itage; professionally successful; vided pastoral counseling, but at “From that day on, he answered and happily married today. one point, he crossed the line and every question,” Kiriakou said. Strikers demonstrate in central Athens on Wednesday December 12, 2007. Hundreds of thousands work- His grandparents came from the molested me,” he added, noting “The threat information he provid- ers, journalists, teachers, Olympic Airways personnel and public servants participated in a 24-hour gener- Peloponnese; his parents were bap- that child molesters tend to zero in ed disrupted a number of attacks, al strike in protest of the government's plans to reduce pensions and unify social security funds as part of tized and married in the Greek Or- maybe dozens of attacks.” wide-ranging reforms of the social security sector. thodox Church; and he grew up Continued on page 4 Kiriakou said the feeling in the Greek Orthodox. “My maternal months after the 9/11 attacks was grandmother, especially, was very that interrogators did not have the religious,” he says. time to delve into the agency's bag As a typical young Greek Ameri- of other interrogation tricks. can boy, he was connected, from “Those tricks of the trade re- St. Nicholas Awaits Rebuilding Plan early on in his life, with his local Zack Space quire a great deal of time -- much of church, where he met his alleged the time -- and we didn't have that By Stavros Marmarinos be rebuilt during a memorial at members of the St. Nicholas Greek abuser, his parish priest at that Satisfied with luxury. We were afraid that there Special to the National Herald “Ground Zero” on St. Nicholas’ Orthodox parish in Lower Manhat- time. In the original lawsuit filed was another major attack coming,” Feast Day on Thursday, December tan gathered on the day in the litur- this past April 27 (pg. 7), it says Mr. he said. NEW YORK – A lot of different sce- 6, 2007. gical calendar that honors the Katinas told him “during the abus- Trip to Athens Kiriakou says he did not know narios have been discussed regard- “He reassured me that the Saint namesake of their church. For the es… that he likewise ‘played that the interrogation of Zubaydah ing what is going to be built in the Nicholas Church project is a very seventh year, they had no church in around’ with other altar boys.” was being secretly recorded by the huge area of Lower Manhattan important one for the City of New which to gather. Instead, they wor- Olympia Fields John Doe is not By Dimitri Soultogiannis CIA and had no idea the tapes had where the twin towers once stood. York and will soon be complete,” shiped in a white tent pitched on the only alleged victim. The Special to the National Herald been destroyed. However, it was never an issue the Archbishop told TNH. “And to the south edge of ground zero. It amended lawsuit (dated this past Now retired, Kiriakou, who de- whether Saint Nicholas Greek Or- hear that from a city official’s was as close as possible to the site November 29) alleges there are NEW YORK – Congressman Zack clined to use the enhanced interro- thodox Church, which was also de- mouth I believe is very important.” at 155 Cedar Street where their four more victims. Space (D-OH) participated in a gation techniques, says he has stroyed during the September 11, The Archbishop stated that the tiny church stood until it was The alleged abuse of Olympia State Department and Department come to believe that water board- 2001 attacks would be rebuilt or new church will be a symbol of Or- crushed by the collapsing World Fields John Doe took place “in NK’s of Defense approved Congressional ing is torture but that perhaps the not. John Whitehead of Lower thodoxy not only for New York and Trade Center on September 11. church office almost every time,” delegation to Greece, in order to circumstances warranted it. Manhattan Development Corpora- the United States but for the entire Hung from support poles within Olympia Fields John Doe told the further the security and economic “Like a lot of Americans, I'm in- tion reassured Archbishop world. Herald, noting that he was an emo- interests of the United States. Upon volved in this internal, intellectual Demetrios that the church will soon This was the 91st year that Continued on page 3 tionally vulnerable teenager who his return, Mr. Space spoke to the battle with myself weighing the National Herald after his week- idea that waterboarding may be long trip to Greece. torture versus the quality of infor- “It was a very productive trip,” mation that we often get after using he said. “Greece has been a great the waterboarding technique,” Kiri- U.S. ally for many years now and I akou told ABC News. “And I strug- Still Learning was glad to see that our bilateral re- gle with it.” lations are excellent.” But he says the urgency in the After 35 Years According to Mr. Space, Greece wake of 9/ll led to a desire to do is a modern European country everything possible to get action- which has shown great signs of able intelligence. as a Diplomat progress and development during That began with Abu Zubay- the last few years. dah's capture following a series of When asked about the delega- raids in which Kiriakou co-led a By Theodore Kalmoukos tion’s meeting with Greek Prime team of CIA officers, FBI agents, a Special to the National Herald Minister Costas Karamanlis, Mr. Port Authority police officer named Space was pleased with the meet- Tom McHale and Pakistani police, BOSTON – “The relations between ing. including a SWAT team. Greece and the United States are “We met with the Prime Minister And, in the case of Abu Zubay- multifaceted, mature and based on and we discussed issues concerning da, it ended with waterboarding. trust,” Alexandros Mallias, the international security as well as is- “What happens if we don't wa- Greek ambassador to the United sues concerning the Greek Ameri- terboard a person, and we don't get States.