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John Stockwell is a former CIA officer who became a whistleblower and outspoken critic of the Agency, the U.S. intelligence community and the imperialist policies of the U.S. government. He left the CIA in 1976 after serving there for 12 years following service in the U.S. Marine Corps. During that time, he was told to fabricate intelligence reports on the situations in Vietnam and Angola, and eventually exposed a significant amount of information through his books and public talks. He was an early supporter and contributor to what was then Covert Action Information Bulletin, now CovertAction Magazine.
In an interview with the Burton Michigan Voice in 1985, he said “I went into the CIA thinking I was doing the best thing I could with my life, the contradiction being that I was a humanist at heart. But of course, their propaganda line is that you’re serving humanity by struggling to keep the world free from communism. It ook a lot of years making my way up the chain of command until I became convinced just the opposite was true. I saw it in Africa, but in Africa I was working out of embassies. I did not have Phil Agee’s experience from Latin America where there was more bombing and torture and terrorism, and the issues were clearer. The inhumanity was clearer. Then I saw it in Vietnam, there was no doubt.”
CovertAction Magazine has recently republished a three-hour video of Stockwell speaking in 1989 at American University, starting with an hour lecture and then answering student questions for the remainder of the time.
Watch the video on our YouTube channel by clicking here.
Though the names of politicians and places have changed, the things Stockwell brings up hit at the heart of issues we are still fighting against and exposing some 35 years later.
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About the Author
Rachel Hu is a journalist with “BreakThrough News,” a new independent media project, where she hosts the podcast “It’s Not You, It’s Capitalism.”
She is also a host on WBAI 99.5FM in NYC and has been an anti-war and anti-racist activist with the ANSWER Coalition for the last decade.
Rachel can be reached at: rachel@wbai.org.
Chris Garaffa has been an anti-imperialist and social justice organizer since joining the movement against the Iraq war in 2003.
Chris is a weekly guest on Sputnik Radio’s “By Any Means Necessary,” and co-hosts the podcast “The Reboot,” focusing on the intersection between technology and human rights.
Chris can be reached at: chris.garaffa@gmail.com.
