My Story

Thank you for kindly visiting my website.

As you know, my name is Jesselyn Radack. I was a former ethics attorney at the Department of Justice in 2001 when an important call arrived at my office concerning the torture and illegal questioning of American John Walker Lindh. I became a Patriotic Truth Teller when I took actions to protect the rights of an uncharged, untried, and never-convicted American citizen when President Bush, Attorney General John Ashcroft, and the President's attorney Alberto Gonzalez illegally held him captive without an attorney, frustrated his family and his attorneys attempts to reach him, and tortured him endlessly for days.

I protested. And I paid the price! If you haven't heard of me, I'm not surprised. Most people don't know me and don't understand how vengence was wreaked upon me and upon my family as a result of my decision to stand up and speak the truth.

How many people have to explain to their three year old son why they were fired from a job? This happened to me.

He asked, "Well, you used to work for the good guys, but then the good guys turned into bad guys?"

"Yes, that's the gist of it."

"Don't worrry, Mom. I get it. You were a tattle-tale and they're giving you a really long 'time-out.'"

Yes, they have given me a very long time out. However, I was fighting to uphold our Constitution and the Geneva Conventions. Within the pages of the book I've written, you will see a lot of themes: loyalty, devotion to duty and the rule of law, and most of all betrayal. My book is titled The Canary in the CoalMine: Blowing the Whistle in the Case of "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh. It has been sitting on my hard drive collecting dust until my friends, antiwar activist Ray McGovern and Pentagon Papers whistleblower Dan Ellsberg, convinced me that there was a moral imperative to publish it.

They understood that this administration was breaking our laws and why I was forced to became a whistle blower. They understood why I was so angry and why I'm still angry. After all, I had been a proud member of the Department of Justice and they knew that it meant the world to me. So they convinced me to keep fighting for the very existence of Justice within the Department of Justice And our country at large. That's why I am asking for your help.

You can help me and help fight for our basic rights by reading and sharing my story with others. We don't have to trade fear for freedom, confuse dissent with disloyalty, and replace democracy with despotism. I am a mother of three, not a "Turncoat," as the government has branded me. No one deserves to be placed under a pretextual criminal investigation, referred to the State's bars in which they are licensed as an attorney, and put on the "No-Fly" list just for doing their job.

I ask for your help in fighting to keep our democracy.

Thank you for your continued support, sincerely,

Jesselyn Radack

For more articles about Jesselyn Radack, visit www.cradl.info.