‘I wipe my a** with your demands for...’: Ex-CIA officer’s brutal reply to Pakistan after saying India would crush them in war

Former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou - File Photo

Former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou has sparked a new controversy after revealing that Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), once tried to pressure him into apologising for comments he made comparing India and Pakistan’s military strength.

Kiriakou, who spent 15 years with the Central Intelligence Agency as an analyst and later as chief of counterterrorism operations in Pakistan after the 9/11 attacks, said that the PTI sent him an official letter demanding an apology for remarks he made praising India’s military superiority.

Instead of complying, Kiriakou said he replied with a blistering email that effectively ended the conversation. “I sent him an email and I said, ‘In regards to your demand for an apology, I wipe my a** with your demands for an apology.’ And I hit send and that’s how I left it and I haven’t heard back from them,” he revealed during a recent podcast appearance uploaded on November 18.

The remarks that angered Pakistan

The controversy began earlier this year during heightened tensions between India and Pakistan. Kiriakou, speaking to news agency ANI during what he called the “four-day India-Pakistan mini-war,” said that India would easily defeat Pakistan in a conventional military conflict.

“Nothing, literally nothing good will come of an actual war between India and Pakistan because the Pakistanis will lose. It’s as simple as that. They’ll lose. And I’m not talking about nuclear weapons. I’m just talking about a conventional war. And so there is no benefit to constantly provoking Indians,” he said.

His comments triggered widespread outrage among Pakistani social media users and political circles, with Kiriakou saying he received a wave of death threats in response.

“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,” Kiriakou recalled in the same podcast.

PTI’s demand for apology backfires

Kiriakou said the situation escalated when he received an official letter from the PTI, signed by its president, Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, who has been leading the party since March 2023. The letter, according to Kiriakou, condemned his remarks “in the strongest possible terms” 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.”

The former CIA officer said his lawyer advised him to ignore the letter and stay quiet, but he chose not to. “My lawyer is like, just throw it away, just throw it away. So I didn’t throw it away,” Kiriakou said.

He responded instead with a sarcastic and unapologetic email that left no room for doubt. “I sent him an email and I said, ‘In regards to your demand for an apology, I wipe my a** with your demands for an apology.’ And I hit send and that’s how I left it and I haven’t heard back from them.”

Pakistan’s growing embarrassment

The episode has left Pakistan and Imran Khan’s party red-faced. What began as an attempt to assert national pride backfired spectacularly, as Kiriakou’s response became a viral talking point across international platforms.

Kiriakou’s defiance also reignited discussion about Pakistan’s tendency to lash out at critics rather than address its internal failures. Analysts say the episode once again highlights the fragile state of Pakistan’s political and military establishment, which often reacts defensively to any outside criticism.

The former CIA officer, known for his outspoken views, has continued to stand by his assessment that Pakistan’s military is no match for India’s conventional strength, a statement that continues to sting Islamabad’s political circles.