gobble, gobble, gobble-d-gook!!

jack idema
The Free Jack Idema Blogburst


One of the most appalling aspects in the case of illegally-imprisoned U.S. Special Forces soldier Jack Idema and his recently 'freed' comrade Captain Brent Bennett has been the way the U.S. State Department has treated them.

Throughout their ordeal at Pulacharke prison, these men have been subjected to what can only be described as a campaign of petty (and not-so-petty) vindictiveness. Thus:

Last year the Northern Alliance made sure Jack and his men had a great Christmas, in spite of the the US Embassy. This year Rice's State Department is up to their old tricks again. US soldiers around the world were treated to spectacular Thanksgiving Day dinners. Incarcerated US citizens around the world were visited by US Embassy officials, brought Turkey and stuffing and holiday cheer, except in Afghanistan, where US Consul Edward Birsner issued a confidential memo prohibiting any US soldier from visiting Jack Idema.
ISAF and NATO followed suit, at the US State Department's request, and issued a directive prohibiting any coalition force member from visiting Pulacharke Prison. Two Military Police officers, in civilian clothes, assisted by Karzai's intelligence police were posted at Pulacharke's main gate to determine the identity of anyone attempting to ignore those directives. We find that odd. Perhaps the US State Department should spend more time hunting suicide bombers and terrorists and leave who's bringing turkey for Jack worries to someone else.

This really is a surreal situation -- As Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists murder as many U.S., British and NATO troops as they can in South Afghanistan, valuable resources are spent on setting up Operation Turkey and Stuffing. Memos are sent out to troops and undercover operatives are stationed outside Pulacharke (from where, we will remember, four high-level terrorists escaped just three weeks ago), all in order to -- what? Prevent one man eating lunch?!! Our tax dollars at work, folks.

Of course, this unintentionally-comic attempt to prevent Jack enjoying his Thanksgiving dinner is only the latest in a long list of petty cruelties. In his time at Pulacharke, Idema has been denied:

• Access to clean drinking water
• Access to mail from family and friends
• Access to Red Cross care packages

The fact that Jack continues to receive enough essential supplies to keep him healthy and alive is entirely because of the willingness of his Northern Alliance and SF friends to play a game of cat-and-mouse with the State Department in order to smuggle water, food and medicine into Pulacharke ...

... Though, if Brent Bennett's experiences since his forced-ejection from Afghanistan are anything to judge by, the State Department don't just deny American heroes turkey dinners -- They can also prevent them returning home:

Brent Bennett has been denied a US passport to return to the country he was born in and fought for. The only details we can give are that Brent spent Thanksgiving with some commandos in a foreign country.

Shameful. Utterly, utterly shameful.

So what can we do? Well, anyone reading this with their own blog can sign up for the weekly Free Jack Idema Blogburst by emailing Cao or Rottweiler Puppy for details. I'd urge everyone to do this, as we're still terribly short on takers. If you want to know more about the story, Cao's Blog has a large section devoted to Jack Idema. There's also a timeline here, and, of course, a huge amount of information is available over at SuperPatriots, without whose work none of us would have learned about Jack's story.

You should also contact the following people and make your feelings known,
especially to write letters of complaint about this despicable situation:

Secret US EMBASSY Fax: - 301-560-5729
(Local US Fax: Goes RIGHT TO Ambassador)
c/o US Ambassador Ronald Neuman
US Embassy- Afghanistan
6180 Kabul Place
Dulles, VA 20189-6180

US Consul Russell Brown - 011-93-70201908 (Fired)
US Consul Addie Harchik- 011-93-70201908
(denied them water and mail at Thanksgiving- Gone)
US Consul Edward Birsner- number yet unknown
US Embassy Translator Wahid - 011-93-70201902
US Embassy Asst Consul Bashir Momman- 011-93-70201923
US Consul (friend) Dawn Schrepel- 011-93-70201908 (Fired)

Ambassador Massoud Khalili
(wounded with Massoud)
(Great and Kind man)
Islamic State of Afghanistan
Embassy of Afghanistan
Ankara, Turkey

H.E. Said Tayeb JAWAD (Afghan Ambassador- powerful in US)
(Northern Alliance Good Guy Fired- New Pro Taliban Ambassador)
Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington
2341 Wyoming Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008
Tel: (202) 483-6414
Fax: (202) 483-9523

Mr. Jahed Hamrah, Consul General (pro-Taliban)
CONSULATE GENERAL OF
AFGHANISTAN IN NEW YORK
360 Lexington Avenue,
11th Floor New York,
New, York, NY 10017
Tel.: (212) 972-2276 or 972-2277
Fax: (212) 972-9046

Chairman Peter Hoekstra
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
H-405, U.S. Capitol
Washington, DC 20515-6415;
Office: 202-225-4121 / Fax: 202-225-1991
Toll Free: (877) 858-9040

M. Cherif BASSIOUNI
Independent Expert of the Commission on Human Rights
On the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
UNOG-OHCHR
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Ph: +41(0)22 917 97 27 Fax: +41(0)22 917 90 18

Senator Steven Saland (Jack's Rep and Neighbor)
9 Jonathan Lane
Poughkeepsie, NY 12603

Senator Elizabeth Dole (Jack's Rep)
United States Senate
555 Dirksen Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Ph: 202-224.6342
Fax: 202-224.1100

Senator Richard Burr (Interested)
United States Senate
217 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-3154 / Fax: 202-228-2981

Senator Bill Nelson (in the fight on Jack's Side)
United States Senate
Hart Senate Office Building
Room 716
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-5274 / Fax: 202-228-2183
FL Fax 407-872-7165

Senator Dianne Feinstein (Bennett's Representative)
United States Senate
Hart Office Building, Room 331
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-3841

Representative Mike McIntyre (Jack's Representative)
United States Congress
2437 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-2731 / Fax 202-225-5773

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
(Reference Captain Bennett- CA citizen)
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841 / Fax: 916-445-4633


Finally, PLEASE NOTE: The SuperPatriots and Jack images on this site are used with WRITTEN COPYRIGHT PERMISSION and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US

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The Free Jack Idema Blogroll:

The Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill
The Lone Voice
Kender's Musings
Irate Nate
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Cao's Blog
Big Dog's Weblog
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NIF
Rottweiler Puppy
Right For Scotland
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The City Troll
Sacramento Boxing
Causes of Interest
Concatenation of Events
Hyscience
Stuck On Stupid
The Daily Blogster
You Don't Know Jack
Right Wing Nation

Please help...

jack idema
The Free Jack Idema Blogburst

One of the major factors in the campaign to free illegally-imprisoned U.S. Special Forces soldier Jack Idema has always been his relationship with the Northern Alliance.

Back in 2001, these were the Afghans who fought alongside U.S. and British Special Forces to remove the Taliban from power. Prior to that, and under the leadership of Commander Ahmed Shah Massoud, the Northern Alliance were responsible for driving the Soviets out of Afghanistan, and, later, of organising the only effective resistance to the Taliban -- By 2001, Massoud and the Northern Alliance controlled the only Taliban-free territories in the country. Indeed, Massoud was so feared by Islamofascists that, just two days prior to the 9/11 attacks, he was murdered by a pair of Al Qaeda suicide bombers posing as journalists.

This tragedy notwithstanding, it was the Northern Alliance presence in the Panjshir Valley that gave the U.S. a firm foothold from which to launch the 2001 campaign to remove the Taliban. Moreover, the efficiency with which Afghanistan was liberated owes much to the professionalism and bravery of the troops Commander Massoud trained -- Given proper support, equipment and direction by Special Forces soldiers like Jack Idema, they easily removed the Islamofascists from power, scoring a very major victory in the WoT with remarkable speed.

It's important that we revisit this story right now because some of Jack's Northern Alliance comrades (formerly his guards and protectors at Pulacharke) are now under arrest:

A few days ago, four top Al Qaeda terrorists escaped from Pulacharke. Karzai then imprisoned the anti-Al Qaeda Northern Alliance or UFMF colonels at the prison (which makes no sense). For a few days pro Taleban guards were in place, and it was during that time and the other guys were ‘off’ to be with their families, that the Al Qaeda terrorists escaped. So when the UFMF guards came back to their posts, they were suddenly faced with arrest, while the pro-Taleban guards had left some time after the Al Qaeda terrorists had escaped.

This is a situation that seems to defy logic -- That four terrorists escape Pulacharke prison on the watch of pro-Taliban guards, and the men arrested for dereliction of duty are all vehemently anti-Taliban NA personnel who weren't even on duty at the time of the escapes. What on earth is going on?

Well, the Northern Alliance in general, and those protecting Jack at Pulacharke in particular, are certainly an annoyance to the Karzai administration, so perhaps the prison escape was used as an excuse to settle some scores.

In any event, it's clear that the Karzai administration remains as committed as ever to a policy of imprisoning innocent men for the sake of political expediency. Jack Idema might be the most famous example of this, but he isn't the only decent man it has happened to.

So what can we do? Well, anyone reading this with their own blog can sign up for the weekly Free Jack Idema Blogburst by emailing Cao or Rottweiler Puppy for details. I'd urge everyone to do this, as we're still terribly short on takers. If you want to know more about the story, Cao's Blog has a large section devoted to Jack Idema. There's also a timeline here, and, of course, a huge amount of information is available over at SuperPatriots, without whose work none of us would have learned about Jack's story.

Write a letter of complaint about this despicable situation.

Finally, PLEASE NOTE: The SuperPatriots and Jack images on this site are used with WRITTEN COPYRIGHT PERMISSION and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US

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Technorati Search for Jack Idema

The Free Jack Idema Blogroll:

The Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill
The Lone Voice
Kender's Musings
Irate Nate
The Devil's Kitchen
Cao's Blog
Big Dog's Weblog
Theodore's World
NIF
Rottweiler Puppy
Right For Scotland
Freedom Folks
The City Troll
Sacramento Boxing
Causes of Interest
Concatenation of Events
Hyscience
Stuck On Stupid
The Daily Blogster
You Don't Know Jack
Right Wing Nation

just who is the enemy??

jack idema
The Free Jack Idema Blogburst

Regular readers of the Free Jack Idema Blogburst will recall the events last month which resulted in Brent Bennett's forcible removal from Afghanistan. As Brent was being dragged out of the country in handcuffs, Jack Idema was involved in a tense standoff with the fifty-or-so Karzai goons who were trying to move him to a prison away from his (relatively) secure quarters at Pulacharke.

Although Northern Alliance Generals eventually resolved that situation by forcing Karzai's troops to stand down, the number of pro-Taliban, non- Northern Alliance guards working at Pulacharke Prison has been increasing steadily for some time.

This week (though apparently only reported by Cao's Blog and in the Gulf Times) the results of this policy became clear:

KABUL: Three men held at Afghanistan’s main prison on terrorism charges walked out of the high-security facility by pretending to be visitors, while another inmate was found dead, officials said Thursday.
The men who escaped from Pul-i-Charki prison on the outskirts of Kabul on Wednesday were facing sentences ranging from death to 15 years in jail after being convicted of terror offences, officials said on condition of anonymity.
They did not say if the three were linked to the Al Qaeda or Taliban extremist groups active in Afghanistan or give details of the charges.
The interior ministry refused to comment, saying it was trying to collect details.

Now, Pulacharke is Afghanistan's most secure prison. Aside from one illegally-imprisoned U.S. Special Forces soldier, it also houses some of the most brutal and dangerous terrorists captured during the WoT. And yet four such men (the very least of them jailed for fifteen years) simply walked out Pulacharke? Is this really credible? Or is it worth wondering if the presence of large numbers of Taliban-supporting guards at the prison was the real reason behind the ease of the terrorists' escape?

If so, then this is a very worrying development in terms of the Jack Idema story. After all, if the security situation at Pulacharke is now so weighted in favour of pro-Taliban elements that four of the world's most dangerous terrorists can simply stroll out of custody -- If this is the case, then how will Jack fair when the next carefully-orchestrated al-Qaeda 'riot' occurs? In the past, he's been able to count on the support of Northern Alliance guards. How will his new, pro-Taliban jailors react to a terrorist attempt on Jack's life? By fighting to protect him? On the strength of this week's events, that hardly seems likely, does it?

So what can we do? Well, anyone reading this with their own blog can sign up for the weekly Free Jack Idema Blogburst by emailing Cao or Rottweiler Puppy for details. I'd urge everyone to do this, as we're still terribly short on takers. If you want to know more about the story, Cao's Blog has a large section devoted to Jack Idema. There's also a timeline here, and, of course, a huge amount of information is available over at SuperPatriots, without whose work none of us would have learned about Jack's story.




Finally, PLEASE NOTE: The SuperPatriots and Jack images on this site are used with WRITTEN COPYRIGHT PERMISSION and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US

jack idema
afghanistan
Technorati Search for Jack Idema

The Free Jack Idema Blogroll:

The Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill
The Lone Voice
Kender's Musings
Irate Nate
The Devil's Kitchen
Cao's Blog
Big Dog's Weblog
Theodore's World
NIF
Rottweiler Puppy
Making Headlines
Right For Scotland
Freedom Folks
The City Troll
Sacramento Boxing
Causes of Interest
Concatenation of Events
Hyscience
Stuck On Stupid
The Daily Blogster
You Don't Know Jack
Right Wing Nation

Thanksgiving giving

jack idema
Captain Brent Bennett Responds


Week after week, whenever we email the Free Jack Idema Blogburst to everyone on the Blogroll, we always make sure to stress that Jack and Brent are grateful for the effort people make in posting about their plight.

Of course, we know that Jack and Brent are decent and honourable guys. And, of course, we know they appreciate what we're doing for them.

But. Still. When Brent takes the time, and on Thanksgiving, no less, to leave the following message at RP, we really think his kindness and decency
deserves to be highlighted:

I would like to personally thank you.

What you, your friends, and the rest of the bloggers have done for us (Jack and I), helping us for quite some time now with the Free Jack Idema blogburst, it does not go unnoticed friend. Nowadays it is easier to hurt someone without ever leaving a chair or home, so when others take up for the cause it means more than you could ever imagine.

Of course, there would be no Free Jack Blogburst without all the people who participate in it, week-in, week-out. So huge pats on the back all round, people. Not only are we doing good here, but the good people we're doing it for do appreciate it.

There is, however, a downside to this:

Bennett was interrogated relentlessly, and threatened with death repeatedly shown a knife and told his ears and nose would be cut off. (To date Bennett has lost 8 teeth because of those beatings.) The torture was with the full knowledge and sanction of the FBI who were directing it, using the Afghans as proxies. FBI agents were at some points laughing about it in the hallway.

See, when a man like Captain Bennett thanks us for taking up his and Jack's cause, we really should make an effort to think hard about what it's like to have eight of your teeth bashed-out by a crazed, Islamofascist torturer. That, and the kind of strength it must take to still not break.

So, Brent, as much as we appreciate your thanks, really, it should be the other way around -- We are the ones who should be thanking you.

For standing in harm's way so we don't have to.

For taking the beatings so we don't have to.

And for listening to your own countrymen's laughter at your screams so we don't have to -- What? Pretend that the WoT can be won by smashing in the faces of the rough men who stand in harm's way to fight it?

But enough of politics. Today, of all days, I think everyone who posts on this topic, week after week, would like to say: 'Thank you, Jack and Brent. Stay safe, and have a very Happy Thanksgiving.'

Yea Nina!!

jack idema
The Free Jack Idema Blogburst

After several, tense, weeks, those of us who've been concerned as to the wellbeing of Jack Idema's right-hand man, Brent Bennett, can finally relax a little.

Brent appeared, via sat-phone, on Jack's weekly radio broadcast two days ago. In spite of everything he's been put through, Brent was in good spirits, sharing a joke with Jack about how Nina the dog took a bite out of one of Karzai's creepy, Taliban-sympathising guards. While it's certainly good to hear from Brent after nearly a month of silence, however, he is still forced to remain in hiding, and can only say that he's 'somewhere in the Middle East'. Meanwhile, Jack Idema remains holed-up in Pulacharke Prison, threatened with a move into solitary confinement away from his Northern Alliance guards, and with President Karzai's goons still hovering nearby.


What makes this situation so intolerable, of course, is that both Jack and Brent were found Not Guilty of all charges against them at an appeal way back in February 2005. Here's Tawous Noorzai, Deputy Commander of Jack's block in Pulacharke, writing under oath, explaining why why Jack and Brent are still being criminalised:

I have attended their court hearings and the secret trial that was conducted in the Second Court [Court of Appeals]. I was present during the decision of the Court of Appeals (February 2005 Christian calendar), where all three men were declared innocent by a panel of three Chief Judges and three visiting judges, including the two Religious Judges who called their arrest a terrible crime against justice in Afghanistan. I personally was present in February or March 2005 (Christian calendar), when the Chief Judge, who had just returned from a vacation in America paid for by the American Embassy, said that although they were innocent, he needed to get permission from the US Consul before signing their release order. It was supposed to be done the next day and the judges were to call a press conference and announce their verdict and issue an apology from the Supreme Court. Several days later, I heard the Chief Judge, Ismail Abed, tell Mr. Jack that he could not release them because the American Embassy had "worked behind the curtain" and ordered the Court to stop their release.

Almost two years later, Jack and Brent continue to exist in this state of legal limbo -- one imprisoned, the other hounded into hiding -- on account of a crime that not even the Karzai government or the U.S. State Department believe they committed.

So what can we do? Well, anyone reading this with their own blog can sign up for the weekly Free Jack Idema Blogburst by emailing Cao or Rottweiler Puppy for details. I'd urge everyone to do this, as we're still terribly short on takers. If you want to know more about the story, Cao's Blog has a large section devoted to Jack Idema. There's also a timeline here, and, of course, a huge amount of information is available over at SuperPatriots, without whose work none of us would have learned about Jack's story.

You should also contact somebody.

Finally, PLEASE NOTE: The SuperPatriots and Jack images on this site are used with WRITTEN COPYRIGHT PERMISSION and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US

jack idema
afghanistan
Technorati Search for Jack Idema

The Free Jack Idema Blogroll:

The Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill
The Lone Voice
Kender's Musings
Irate Nate
The Devil's Kitchen
Cao's Blog
Big Dog's Weblog
Theodore's World
NIF
Rottweiler Puppy
Making Headlines
Right For Scotland
Freedom Folks
The City Troll
Sacramento Boxing
Causes of Interest
Concatenation of Events
Hyscience
Stuck On Stupid
The Daily Blogster
You Don't Know Jack
Right Wing Nation

October 26, 2006

jack idema
The Free Jack Idema Blogburst

After the turmoil of recent weeks, the past seven days have been uneventful in the case of illegally-imprisoned Special Forces soldier Jack Idema.
Jack remains holed-up in his compound at Pulacharke prison, still under threat from the men President Karzai has posted outside the prison, but, for the moment, relatively safe.

As for Brent Bennett, Jack's right-hand man,

he remains free since giving his State Department captors the slip en route to back to the U.S. While this is, in itself, good news, it is still unclear precisely what his legal status actually is -- As Brent himself wrote in his account of his removal from Afghanistan, "the United States Consul seeks to make me a man without a country to go home to". Some reward for answering your country's call to hunt terrorists in a time of war, eh?

While Jack and Brent continue existing in what amounts to a legal limbo, however, President Karzai's behaviour toward hardened Taliban fighters couldn't be more different:

Early Sunday morning, 20 Taliban fighters/terrorists were released from Pulacharke as a ‘gift’ for Ramadan. This, I’m certain, is to ensure they’ll join their terrorist brothers in the south where the American food is being dropped to help the Pashtun/Taliban. Meanwhile, the Red Cross food supplements to the women in the North has been cut off. The money and the food is going to help the Taliban fighters and their families, which barely seems possible, while the Northern Alliance, our real allies, are suffering through the beginning of another cold winter without the aid they had from America before.

This situation -- the release of Taliban prisoners and the shifting of aid from friendly to hostile Afghan provinces -- closely relates to the Jack Idema case.

From day one, the Karzai administration has pursued a policy of appeasing terrorists and fanatics. This is why Jack and his men wound up in prison after they arrested an 'ex'-Taliban judge. It's why food aid is being siphoned away from the Northern Alliance who fought with us in 2001 in order to feed the very terrorists who are still fighting (and killing) our troops today. It's why Jack Idema is sitting in a prison cell, even as 20 convicted terrorists walk free, presumably in order to rejoin the Global Jihad.

And, of course, all of this is being paid for by the U.S., British and Afghan people, through our taxes, and, on the battlefield, with our soldiers' blood.

So what can we do? Well, anyone reading this with their own blog can sign up for the weekly Free Jack Idema Blogburst by emailing Cao or Rottweiler Puppy for details. I'd urge everyone to do this, as we're still terribly short on takers. If you want to know more about the story, Cao's Blog has a large section devoted to Jack Idema. There's also a timeline here, and, of course, a huge amount of information is available over at SuperPatriots, without whose work none of us would have learned about Jack's story.


Finally, PLEASE NOTE: The SuperPatriots and Jack images on this site are used with WRITTEN COPYRIGHT PERMISSION and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US

jack idema
afghanistan
Technorati Search for Jack Idema

The Free Jack Idema Blogroll:

The Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill
The Lone Voice
Kender's Musings
Irate Nate
The Devil's Kitchen
Cao's Blog
Big Dog's Weblog
Theodore's World
NIF
Rottweiler Puppy
Making Headlines
Right For Scotland
Freedom Folks
The City Troll
Sacramento Boxing
Causes of Interest
Concatenation of Events
Hyscience
Stuck On Stupid
The Daily Blogster
You Don't Know Jack
Right Wing Nation

What's Going On????

JAck idema
The Free Jack Idema Blogburst

So where do things stand with Jack Idema, the U.S. Special Forces soldier being held illegally in Afghanistan?



On the face of it, the situation seems to have stabilized:

• Jack continues to broadcast his weekly Wide Awakes Radio show from Pulacharke prison
• Captain Brent Bennett, in spite of being bundled out of Afghanistan against his will by the U.S. State Department two weeks ago, remains free
• Jack now has his friends in the Northern Alliance watching his back again
• Solitary Confinement Cell Number 10 at Tawab Keef prison, reserved by Karzai for Jack, remains empty

... So has everything returned to 'normal'? Well, no. For one thing, the Karzai/State Department plan was at least partially successful in that it separated Jack from one of his right-hand men, something neither Idema nor Brent Bennett are happy about. Then there's this:

Idema Update 10/5: Although it appears that Karzai special police have been withdrawn from Pulacharke, Jack Idema is still barricaded in and preparing for another attempt on him at his POW compound. Karzai's men cut down his satellite dishes on the Pulacharke tower and he has not been allowed to get food or water. A 50 man force has been kept a short distance away waiting for orders. The regular officers at Pulacharke have refused to him attack again. The appearance is that everything is back to normal and there are no problems. Appearances can be deceiving. In the prison command say another attack by outside forces is inevitable.

There are two issues here, and both of them are serious.

First, and obviously, having Karzai's '50 man force' parked outside Pulacharke doesn't exactly bode well for Jack's future wellbeing. Clearly, if the plan to move him to Tawab Keef had been completely aborted, the force would have been stood down. Instead, they remain ready to move on Idema again -- It only takes an order from Karzai or, as we've shown in the past, the U.S. Embassy.


The second issue is that of Idema's access to food and water. Although the U.S. Embassy are duty bound to ensure that American citizens imprisoned abroad have access to a clean supply of drinking water, since Jack and Brent were moved to the relative safety of their annex by the Northern Alliance two years ago, the State Department have blocked all access to clean drinking water. This is a major issue, since, for Westerners, Afghan water is highly unsafe to drink. Because of this, Jack has always relied on friends in the Northern Alliance and elsewhere to supply him with food and clean water -- If this is now being blocked by Karzai and the State Department, then Jack's health is in very real jeopardy.

So where do things stand with Jack Idema? With his satellite communications curtailed, his access to safe food and water cut-off, and fifty-plus hostile troops stationed around the corner, just waiting on the order to haul him off to Tawab Keef and a solitary confinement cell -- With all of this stacked against him, things are looking pretty grim.

So what can we do? Well, anyone reading this with their own blog can sign up for the weekly Free Jack Idema Blogburst by emailing Cao or Rottweiler Puppy for details. I'd urge everyone to do this, as we're still terribly short on takers. If you want to know more about the story, Cao's Blog has a large section devoted to Jack Idema. There's also a timeline here, and, of course, a huge amount of information is available over at SuperPatriots, without whose work none of us would have learned about Jack's story.

You should also contact the people listed and make your feelings known,
especially to write letters of complaint about this despicable situation!

Latest Info...

jack idema
The Free Jack Idema Blogburst

While there have been no changes in the circumstances of Jack Idema and Captain Brent Bennett since last week's Blogburst, we are beginning to discover more details of what happened two weeks ago.

For anyone interested in reading Brent's own account of his forcible removal from Pulacharke prison, his statement can be found, in full, here and here. There's also an affidavit from one of Jack and Brent's closest allies, Lieutenant 'Zorro' Wahid Rasuli Banderas, who elected to stay by Idema's side after he was released from prison in 2005.

Also of much interest is the following account by none other than Tawous Noorzai, the Deputy Commander of Block 3 at Pulacharke. Here's how he introduces himself:

My name is Tawous Noorzai. I am employed as Deputy Commander of Block 3, where Captain Brent Bennett, Cmdr. Jack Idema, and Lieutenant Z. Wahid Rasuli Banderas were housed at Pulacharke Prison. I have held various positions in the Ministry of Justice over the past four years, including, Block Commander, Special Deputy, before that I was a commissioned officer in the Ministry of Interior for 19 years.

And here's how he describes Jack Idema:

For all of the time here at Pulacharke these three men have been the most liked and respected men ever at this prison, and this includes officers. They have never been considered prisoners, they have never been treated as prisoners, and they have never been called prisoners. Mujahadeen all over Afghanistan consider these men heroes of our country, and we all believe that they were oppressed without any crime except saving the lives of our Mujahadeen leaders (United Front) [Commander Massoud’s UN recognized government prior to the interim government]. Everyone at Pulacharke knows that their case is political. On the roster here they have been listed as political prisoners by the Minister of Justice. They have Prisoner of War Identification cards, and all five generals who have been Commandants at Pulacharke have given them all full Prisoner of War rights here. They could escape at any time, but they have never once even attempted this. During the last three prison uprisings, these three men have been against the prisoners and terrorists, and with the officers. Cmdr Jack ran a command post, with Captain Brent, Lieutenant Banderas, and another Lieutenant during the riot early this year, where all of the senior officers slept and where he helped keep our communications working and other things that helped stop the riot.

I'm quoting at length here because it really is important to grasp how well-liked Jack and Brent are among their Northern Alliance 'jailors'. The bond of loyalty between Jack and the Northern Alliance is something we've stressed time and again ... So how was it that Brent could be removed from Afghanistan? And how did Jack wind up having to fend off Karzai's troops with a can of gasoline?

Last week, the American Embassy ordered the new general to attack Jack, Captain Brent and Lieutenant Banderas. They were to attack them, drag them out of their compound at Block 3, and turn them over to the American Embassy. In the recent past, Ministry of Justice officers at Pulacharke Prison had refused to take any action against them, officers have died for them, and most officers here would die for them again. When Captain Brent went to dinner with the Security Commandant last week, the American Embassy made their call to a man here who is not an officer, and started their plan against them. They surrounded Captain Brent and attacked on top of Cmdr Jack. The officers involved were not our past regular officers, and most of us were home. I was not there when the attack happened, and almost all of the longtime senior officers had been given that night off to spend Ramadan with their families.

Clearly, then, a great deal of planning went into the attempt to remove Jack and Brent from Pulacharke. Regular guards were given time off and non-Northern Alliance troops were drafted in. What's more, it's becoming very clear that most of the shots were called from the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan:

This is hard for people to understand, but in this country the American Embassy controls this government, more than the Russians ever did. If you refuse the orders of the US Embassy you can be fired or put in jail. This is not done directly, it is done through our high levels "behind the curtain" [the Afghan phrase used for this]. This is what happened here. When General Shamir [Pulacharke's recently-replaced Commandant] refused the Embassy, they put pressure on the Minister who passed the threat to the new Brigadier General.

Let's be quite clear about this: when Deputy Commander Tawous Noorzai uses the term 'threat', he isn't exaggerating:

The only people responsible for the action against Captain Brent and Cmdr Jack were the Americans at the Embassy. They ordered this. No Afghan officer or official ordered this or wanted this. For writing this I will probably be fired or arrested and I say these things because it is truth, I just ask that if am arrested the American Embassy not hurt my family and not order anyone to hurt my family or bribe anyone to hurt my family.

So this is the real deal in Afghanistan today -- An officer in the Northern Alliance, the force who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with us in the fight against the Taliban, is fearful of speaking the truth because someone in the U.S. Government on the ground may 'hurt his family'. This is absolutely outrageous.

So what can we do? Well, anyone reading this with their own blog can sign up for the weekly Free Jack Idema Blogburst by emailing Cao or Rottweiler Puppy for details. I'd urge everyone to do this, as we're still terribly short on takers. If you want to know more about the story, Cao's Blog has a large section devoted to Jack Idema. There's also a timeline here, and, of course, a huge amount of information is available over at SuperPatriots, without whose work none of us would have learned about Jack's story.

You should also contact anyone in the WHAT CAN YOU DO post and make your feelings known about this despicable situation.

Finally, PLEASE NOTE: The SuperPatriots and Jack images on this site are used with WRITTEN COPYRIGHT PERMISSION and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US

jack idema
afghanistan
Technorati Search for Jack Idema

The Free Jack Idema Blogroll:

The Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill
The Lone Voice
Kender's Musings
Irate Nate
The Devil's Kitchen
Cao's Blog
Big Dog's Weblog
Theodore's World
NIF
Rottweiler Puppy
Making Headlines
Right For Scotland
Freedom Folks
The City Troll
Sacramento Boxing
Causes of Interest
Concatenation of Events
Hyscience
Stuck On Stupid
The Daily Blogster
You Don't Know Jack
Right Wing Nation

WHAT CAN YOU DO??

jack idema

So what can we do? Well, anyone reading this with their own blog can sign up for the weekly Free Jack Idema Blogburst by emailing Cao or Rottweiler Puppy for details. I'd urge everyone to do this, as we're still terribly short on takers. If you want to know more about the story, Cao's Blog has a large section devoted to Jack Idema. There's also a timeline here, and, of course, a huge amount of information is available over at SuperPatriots, without whose work none of us would have learned about Jack's story.

You can also contact the following people and make your feelings known:

Secret US EMBASSY Fax: – 301-560-5729 (Local US Fax: Goes RIGHT TO Ambassador)
c/o US Ambassador Ronald Neuman
6180 Kabul Place
Dulles, VA 20189-6180

US Consul Russell Brown – 011-93-70201908 (Fired)

US Consul Addie Harchik- 011-93-70201908 (denied them water and mail at Thanksgiving)

US Embassy Translator Wahid – new – 011-93-70201902

US Embassy Translator Bashir Momman– 011-93-70201923

US Consul (friend of Jack's Now fired) Dawn Schrepel– 011-93-70201908

Embassy of Afghanistan (Good guys, Northern Alliance)
2341 Wyoming Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Ph: 202-483-6410, Fax: no. 202-483-6488

Ambassador Massoud Khalili (wounded with Massoud)
Islamic State of Afghanistan
Embassy of Afghanistan
New Delhi, India

H.E. Said Tayeb JAWAD (Afghan Ambassador- powerful in US)
Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington
2341 Wyoming Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008
Tel: (+1-202) 483 6414
Fax: (+1-202) 483 9523

Mr. Jahed Hamrah, Consul General (pro-Taliban)
CONSULATE GENERAL OF
AFGHANISTAN IN NEW YORK
360 Lexington Avenue,
11th Floor New York,
New, York, NY 10017
Tel.: (+1-212) 972 2276 or 972 2277
Fax: (+1-212) 972 9046

Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon – Room # 3E880
Washington, DC 20301-1000
Ph: (703) 692-7100
Fax: (703) 697-9080

Lt General William Boykin
Deputy Undersecretary
of Defense for Intelligence
1800 Defense Pentagon – Room # 3E836
Washington, DC 20301
Ph: (703) 697-0170
Private Fax: (703) 697-9080

Stephen Cambone
Principle Deputy Secretary for Intelligence
1800 Defense Pentagon – Room # 3E
Washington, DC 20310-0100

General Peter J. Shoomaker
Chief of Staff, Department of the Army
200 Army Pentagon – Room # 3E528
Washington, DC 20310-0200
Ph: (703) 695-2077 / Fax: (703) 614-5268

The Honorable John D. Negroponte
Director National Intelligence
New Executive Office Building
725 17th Street, N.W., Room 4203
Washington, DC 20503

The Committee
On Homeland Security
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Chairman Peter Hoekstra
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
H-405, U.S. Capitol
Washington, DC 20515-6415;
Office: (202) 225-4121 / Fax: (202) 225-1991
Toll Free: (877) 858-9040

M. Cherif BASSIOUNI
Independent Expert of the Commission on Human Rights
On the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
UNOG-OHCHR
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Ph: +41(0)22 917 97 27 Fax: +41(0)22 917 90 18
Email

Senator Steven Saland (Jack's Rep and Neighbor)
9 Jonathan Lane
Poughkeepsie, NY 12603

Senator Elizabeth Dole (Jack's Rep)
United States Senate
310 New Bern Avenue, Suite 122
Raleigh, NC 27601
Ph: 919.856.4630
Fax: 919.856.4053

Senator Elizabeth Dole (Jack's Rep)
United States Senate
555 Dirksen Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Ph: 202.224.6342
Fax: 202.224.1100

Senator Richard Burr (of Interest)
United States Senate
217 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3154 / Fax: (202) 228-2981

Senator Bill Nelson (in the fight on Jack's Side)
United States Senate
Hart Senate Office Building
Room 716
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-5274 / Fax: 202-228-2183
FL Fax 407-872-7165

Senator Dianne Feinstein (Bennett's Representative)
United States Senate
Hart Office Building, Room 331
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3841

Representative Mike McIntyre (Jack's Representative)
United States Congress
2437 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2731 / Fax (202) 225-5773

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (reference Captain Bennett- CA citizen)
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841 / Fax: 916-445-4633

Finally, PLEASE NOTE: The SuperPatriots and Jack images on this site are used with WRITTEN COPYRIGHT PERMISSION and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US

jack idema


The Free Jack Idema Blogburst

It's been an amazingly busy week in terms of developments in the campaign to free Jack Idema and Captain Brent Bennett, the U.S. Special Forces soldiers illegally imprisoned in Afghanistan. Not only has a great deal taken place since last Thursday, but there has also been a fair amount of misinformation given out in MSM. Accordingly, what I'd like to do is present an accurate timeline of events. All of the information below comes directly from Jack Idema himself, speaking via Cao's Blog and the SuperPatriots, who are U.S. Special Forces soldiers working in the campaign to help Jack and Brent.

Tuesday 26th September: Two cells, numbers 2 and 10, are cleared of Afghan prisoners at the Tawab Keef prison near the U.S. Embassy in Kabal. Everyone at Tawab Keef is informed that these cells are to be used to hold Jack and Brent, in solitary confinement and without the Northern Alliance guards who currently protect them at Pulacharke.

Thursday 28th September: Jack and Brent are invited to take their evening meal with the Commandant of Pulacharke prison. This isn't an unusual occurrence by itself, but Jack isn't feeling well and declines the invitation. This, oddly, sparks a flurry of phone calls to Jack, begging him to attend the dinner. Brent finally agrees to attend without Jack.

When Brent arrives at the dinner, he becomes suspicious, and calls Jack, telling him he has the feeling he's about to be ambushed. Jack tells Brent to just get up and leave.

Brent calls Jack a second time, telling him that he's now being prevented from returning to his quarters. Idema then tries to reach Brent, but finds himself locked in his quarters -- An unusual occurrence, since the ordinary Northern Alliance guards usually trust Jack not to leave the prison.

25 soldiers surround Brent during the 'dinner' and arrest him.

40 soldiers attempt to storm Jack's compound at the prison. Having survived more than a dozen assassination attempts, however, Jack is prepared to defend himself. He kicks a large can of gasoline down the stairs toward the advancing troops and lights his Zippo. They quickly withdraw.

Friday 29th September: Luckily, Lieutenant Banderas was not in the prison at this time, and managed to contact a group of Northern Alliance generals. They, in turn, used their political muscle to force the troops surrounding Jack's compound to stand down. Brent Bennett, however, remains in custody, whereabouts unknown.

Saturday 30th September: The next we here from Brent is at this point, when the press begin reporting that he has been 'released' and is on his way back to the States, accompanied by US State Department officials. In fact Brent was in custody, handcuffed, and forced to leave Afghanistan and Jack Idema behind. The intention, it seems, was to transport Bennett, presumably back to the US, but certainly out of Afghanistan, and certainly against his will. This 'Plan B' was necessary because the State Department and Karzai had failed to capture Jack Idema -- For their 'Plan A' to work, they needed both men locked down and silenced in Tawab Keef prison. Since this hadn't happened, they decided to force Brent out of the country, then, we presume, try again to capture Jack.

When Brent and his handlers arrived in Dubai, however, the immigration police refused to accept custody of Brent's passport and handed the documents from the State Department officials back to Brent. Brent Bennett then promptly gave his captors the slip and, according to Cao: 'Is now somewhere, but not on the way back to the US'.

Finally, there's this, from Dan at SuperPatriots:

Bennett family: Brent is fine, no thanks to the US State Department. A teammate of ours spoke to him. He is no longer in State Department custody, and the information on Cao's blog can be confirmed. He says he cannot make contact right now for reasons we can’t go into. Actually I should say he is not just fine, he is safe and continuing to support his teammates from an undisclosed location. Jack and Zorro are also fine, facing continued assaults by the State Department, but in good spirits and holding out while the dust settles. Rumor is that certain members of the Afghan govt are not happy about the State Department and FBI using Afghan forces for an illegal operation and attempted illegal extradition of Americans. Kabul TV announced tonight that the Supreme Court admitted the men had been innocent all along.

So, yes, it's been one hell of a week.

So what can we do? Well, anyone reading this with their own blog can sign up for the weekly Free Jack Idema Blogburst by emailing Cao or Rottweiler Puppy for details. I'd urge everyone to do this, as we're still terribly short on takers. If you want to know more about the story, Cao's Blog has a large section devoted to Jack Idema. There's also a timeline here, and, of course, a huge amount of information is available over at SuperPatriots, without whose work none of us would have learned about Jack's story.

You can also contact SOMEBODY.

Finally, PLEASE NOTE: The SuperPatriots and Jack images on this site are used with WRITTEN COPYRIGHT PERMISSION and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US

jack idema
afghanistan
Technorati Search for Jack Idema

The Free Jack Idema Blogroll:

The Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill
The Lone Voice
Kender's Musings
Irate Nate
The Devil's Kitchen
Cao's Blog
Big Dog's Weblog
Theodore's World
NIF
Rottweiler Puppy
Making Headlines
Right For Scotland
Freedom Folks
The City Troll
Sacramento Boxing
Causes of Interest
Concatenation of Events
Hyscience
Stuck On Stupid
The Daily Blogster
You Don't Know Jack

jack idema
Brent Bennett Freed?

It's beginning to look as though Captain Brent Bennett has been released from prison:

KABUL, Afghanistan - An American was released from an Afghan prison and flown out of the country Saturday after serving more than two years for running a private prison as part of a freelance hunt for terrorists, officials said.
Court documents filed Friday in Washington, D.C., show that U.S. officials planned to secure Brent Bennett a passport and a ticket out of the country, and an Associated Press reporter saw a man identified as Bennett board a plane for Dubai late Saturday.
It was not clear if Bennett, 29, was free or in the custody of U.S. officials. He was held in a private room at the airport and journalists were prevented from talking to him.

So what's going on? Well, we know from Jack Idema's own account (speaking both to the AP and to members of the Free Jack campaign), that Brent was removed from the Task Force Sabre compound by force last Thursday. What's less clear is if he was also forced to leave Afghanistan. It certainly looks as though the U.S. officials moving him around have gone to great lengths to keep him out of sight, and are denying him the right to speak with members of the press -- If Bennett really is a free man, then why such heavy-handedness on behalf of the U.S. and Afghan authorities?

Hopefully, we won't have to wait too long before getting answers to some of these questions, and in the meantime, at least, we can breathe a sigh of relief that both Brent and Jack are out of immediate danger.

jack idema
UPDATE: According to an email from Kender, who Jack managed to contact earlier today, the situation now is that Jack now has Northern Alliance protection, and that Karzai's goons have backed off for the time being.

However. Captain Brent Bennett is still missing, presumed to be stuck in the al-Qaeda section of the prison. If this is the case, clearly, his life is at great risk.

Here's Kender, quoting Jack:

He [Jack] mentioned something about Karzai's guys finding out what a 5 gallon can of gas and a Zippo lighter would do......I don't know what he did but I think at the moment he is safe.

Also. Jack is receiving 'conflicting reports' concerning Brent's whereabouts. As soon as we learn anything definite, or just what happened with regard to Karzai's troops and that '5 gallon can of gas' we'll let you know. END OF UPDATE

jack idema
Jack And Brent Are In Serious Trouble

While two-faced, Taliban-appeasing Afghan President Karzai spends a week in the U.S. lecturing everyone on how to deal with terrorism, back in Afghanistan, Jack Idema and Brent Bennett are fighting for their lives:

As of 11:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time [Thursday], Idema’s compound in Pulacharke is burning. Bennett has been taken by forces loyal to Karzai to the Al-Qaeda portion of the prison, where rumor has it and it is reasonable to presume he is being tortured.

Well, yes, we have been here before -- Jack and Brent have survived more than a dozen assassination attempts in the past. This time, however, they're under direct attack from forces loyal to Karzai, who have already captured Brent and handed him over to Al-Qaeda prisoners in their section of the prison.

Before his communications were cut-off, Jack Idema had the following to say late Thursday:

"This is it, Karzai and the US has finally ordered them to use weapons against us, the new General Sadiqi, has said that he was given orders to shoot to kill if we resisted. We may not make it through the night. if not, bye. At least you know what finally went down. They are going to cut all the phones off in this area soon if they do come in. My block is on fire, surrounded, and they already got Brent, I will hold out to the end.
goodbye friends,
Jack"

This does not look good, not good at all.

jack idema
The Free Jack Idema Blogburst

One of the things worth stressing about the case of Jack Idema and Brent Bennett, the two US Special Forces soldiers held illegally in Afghanistan, is that the injustices they've suffered weren't aberrations. All across Afghanistan, right now, the freedoms men like Idema, Bennett and the Northern Alliance won for the Afghan people are being rolled back in an effort to appease Islamists and 'former' Taliban members.

A case in point is the reintroduction of the infamous Office for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue, a move which prompted the following objection from the Afghan Bar Association [pdf]:

The Afghan Bar Association seriously and completely opposes the establishment of a new Afghan Government Office for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue. This Office, which was established by the Taliban terrorist government was known as Amrer Bil Maroof Wa Nahee Anil Monka, Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue. This office, under our Taliban oppressors, became infamous for corruption, abuse of power, terrorism, torture, and murder. Under the Taliban, this office was responsible for countless deaths of innocentAfghans for crimes ranging from wearing nail polish, to failing to pray or shaving beards. The Afghan people, after 25 years of war and struggle, know this office as the face of terror and oppression, a terrorist operation, which struck fear in the hearts of all Afghans and imposed their vicious and brutal will upon our people with the whip, the braided cable, and the machinegun.

Those of us who've followed the Idema case for some time now shouldn't find this, latest move of President Karzai's surprising -- It was with his blessing that Jack, Brent and the rest of Task Force Sabre were subjected to a trial under Taliban 'law', presided over by a Taliban judge, and this only a few months into Karzai's Presidency. Two years down the line, it seems as though the re-Islamisation of Afghanistan is gathering pace.

These two issues -- the campaign to free Jack and Brent and the campaign to keep Afghanistan free of Taliban-style religious police -- came together in Washington recently, when a group of American and Afghan women, dressed in burkas, handcuffed themselves to railings outside the Afghan embassy:

The Taliban executed women for wearing nail polish. A FREE THEM NOW spokeswoman said, "Mr. Hamid Karzai simply tortures them and imprisons them, not for nail polish, but for speaking out, divorce, adultery, sex outside of marriage, and many other things. Americans must never fear exercising the Constitutional rights paid for with American blood for more than 200 years." The women remained anonymous under the Burkas throughout the protest.
[...]
"We demand justice, and if it takes a dozen Burkas surrounding the Afghan Embassy on September 11th 2006, then 300 Burkas surrounding the Afghan Embassy on October 12th, the anniversary of the first bomb being dropped on the Taliban in the war of liberation, and then 1000 more Burkas surrounding the Afghan Embassy on November 12, 2006, the anniversary of the American liberation of Kabul, then we will do it. But the terror and oppression must be stopped."

The protesters handed the Afghan Ambassador, Sayed Jawad Tayeb, a videotape of Afghan Supreme Court Judges discussing the Idema case and stating that Jack is completely innocent. Further protests are planned in Washington, New York and London for October 16th. For more information, readers should visit the Free Them Now homepage.

So what else can we do? Well, anyone reading this with their own blog can sign up for the weekly Free Jack Idema Blogburst by emailing Cao or Rottweiler Puppy for details. I'd urge everyone to do this, as we're still terribly short on takers. If you want to know more about the story, Cao's Blog has a large section devoted to Jack Idema. There's also a timeline here, and, of course, a huge amount of information is available over at SuperPatriots, without whose work none of us would have learned about Jack's story.

You can also contact any of the people listed in previous posts and make your feelings known.



Finally, PLEASE NOTE: The SuperPatriots and Jack images on this site are used with WRITTEN COPYRIGHT PERMISSION and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US

jack idema
afghanistan
Technorati Search for Jack Idema

The Free Jack Idema Blogroll:

The Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill
The Lone Voice
Kender's Musings
Irate Nate
The Devil's Kitchen
Cao's Blog
Big Dog's Weblog
Theodore's World
NIF
Rottweiler Puppy
Making Headlines
Right For Scotland
Freedom Folks
The City Troll
Sacramento Boxing
Causes of Interest
Concatenation of Events
Hyscience
Stuck On Stupid
The Daily Blogster
You Don't Know Jack

jack idema
The Free Jack Idema Blogburst

One of the things worth stressing about the case of Jack Idema and Brent Bennett, the two US Special Forces soldiers held illegally in Afghanistan, is the reason they wound up in the country to begin with. Here's Jack speaking on this subject:

9/11 happens, I’m in Los Angeles. They called at 5:00 in the morning said turn the tv on. I thought it was a prank call. I hung up on the guy. He calls me back a minute later–he says, Jack I’m telling you please turn on the t.v. I turn on the tv, I see the second plane hit. That was it for me. I was like, ok, I can’t believe this is happening. I’m from New York. What do you expect a New Yorker to do? I got pretty pissed off.

I went back to the army, said, look. I had a long relationship in Afghanistan, with Massoud, with the United Front Military Forces, which journalists call the northern alliance, but it’s not really. It’s an alliance of anti-communist, anti-Taliban, anti-terrorist forces that have been around for 15-20 years. Lead by Commander Ahmed Shah Massoud. Who was assassinated on September 9th -two days before- because Bin Laden said "there can be no victory while this man is alive". So he was killed on September 9. Now anybody that does not think these two things were interrelated–that Massoud was killed on the 9th, to break apart the United Front which held only the north 10%-they’d been driven back into the northern 10% of the country- anybody that does not think that’s related to 9/11 is insane. Massoud had prior to that, the December prior to that, given a speech to the US and said, if you don’t stop Al Qaeda and the Taliban now, if you don’t give me the resources and the money, I can guarantee you they will attack your cities, and New York will be first. Massoud was right. This is documented on film.

It really is worth quoting Jack at length here. What he has to say gives us an insight not only into his own desire to avenge the 3000 people murdered on 9/11, but also the way in which Al Qaeda and the Taliban viewed the Northern Alliance as their greatest enemies within Afghanistan.

Understanding how these two plots -- 9/11 and the assassination of Massoud -- were linked in terrorists' minds should have given the US State Department a clear picture of how to proceed with the reconstruction of Afghanistan. See, the Northern Alliance have always been the most pro-Western of the country's factions, and more, have been consistent in delivering freedom for the Afghan people while refusing to tolerate Islamofascism. This was why, when they arrived in Afghanistan in 2001, US and British Special Forces troops, Jack Idema among them, hooked up with the NA. It's also why, throughout 2001-02, Jack Idema continued protecting those members of the NA who entered Afghan politics -- Men like Yunis Qanooni, whose stint as Minister of Interior saw a huge reduction in terror-related bombings, and whose move to the Ministry of Education saw more schools built in the country than at any time in Afghan history.

Qanooni is now Afghanistan's first democratically-elected Chief of Parliament, but it was during his stint as Chief of the National Security Council and Presidential candidate running against Karzai that Jack Idema's team foiled an attempt by terrorists to assassinate Qanooni and other leading NA figures.

It was as a result of this investigation, which had the potential to both embarrass Karzai and derail the State Department's efforts at appeasing 'former' members of the Taliban, that Jack and his men were first arrested. In a week in which we recall the high-watermark of Al Qaeda's brutality in both the US and Afghanistan, it's worth reflecting on the men like Jack, Brent and Yunis Qanooni who continue to risk their lives in the fight to make sure the events of five years ago are never repeated.

So what can we do? Well, anyone reading this with their own blog can sign up for the weekly Free Jack Idema Blogburst by emailing Cao or Rottweiler Puppy for details. I'd urge everyone to do this, as we're still terribly short on takers. If you want to know more about the story, Cao's Blog has a large section devoted to Jack Idema. There's also a timeline here, and, of course, a huge amount of information is available over at SuperPatriots, without whose work none of us would have learned about Jack's story.




Finally, PLEASE NOTE: The SuperPatriots and Jack images on this site are used with WRITTEN COPYRIGHT PERMISSION and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US

jack idema
afghanistan
Technorati Search for Jack Idema

The Free Jack Idema Blogroll:

The Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill
The Lone Voice
Kender's Musings
Irate Nate
The Devil's Kitchen
Cao's Blog
Big Dog's Weblog
Theodore's World
NIF
Rottweiler Puppy
Making Headlines
Right For Scotland
Freedom Folks
The City Troll
Sacramento Boxing
Causes of Interest
Concatenation of Events
Hyscience
Stuck On Stupid
The Daily Blogster
You Don't Know Jack

...and the beat goes on...and on...and on

jack idema
The Free Jack Idema Blogburst

Finally, it seems as though the story of illegally-imprisoned U.S. Special Forces soldiers Jack Idema and Brent

Bennett is starting to attract the kind of media attention it deserves.

Indeed, over the past week, we've had the announcement of a film,

Disavowed, that focuses on Jack Idema, a wealth of intelligence footage of Jack arresting and interrogating Taliban detainees, and the internet

debut of a British documentary which includes an interview with Idema. Let's take a look some of these:

First up, then, is the documentary,

Guns For Hire, by Sam Kiley. Although it focuses on the work of mercenaries in Afghanistan, from
35 minutes in you can see an interview with Jack and some of his comrades in the Northern Alliance. It's actually worth watching the whole thing,

however, as the film paints a clear picture of what life is actually like for the guys who work in Afghanistan.

Another point worth making is the

obvious difference between Jack Idema and the mercenaries interviewed at the start of the film. Sure, these are all brave, decent men doing a difficult

and dangerous job. But. By their own admission, they're in Afghanistan for the excitement and the pay -- Contrast this attitude with Jack's insistance

that he is definitely not a hired gun, and that he has never been in the pay of a foreign power. So that's one thing. Another is the obvious

respect Idema has for his comrades in the Northern Alliance. This is something we've stressed time and time again -- That the NA are our greatest allies

in Afghanistan, and that if we're serious about defeating the head-hackers, this relationship needs to be cultivated.

Here's the

clip:

Free Video Hosting Watch More Videos

Next up, we

have a trailer for the upcoming film, Disavowed. Out around October this year, the film will tell Jack and Brent's stories, detailing how they

were set-up and betrayed.



This next clip

shows Jack Idema interrogating Malikyar, a terrorist with links to Osama Bin Laden and Gulbideen Hekmatyar. Malikyar was part of a plot, foiled by Jack's

team, to drive explosive-laden trucks into Bagram airbase, murdering hundreds of U.S. troops. This attack was to have been carried out alongside the

assassinations of the Afghan Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, and key Ambassadors. The terrorists hoped that carnage on this scale would spark a

civil war.



And, lastly,

there's this clip, which is just a lot of fun:



So what can we do? Well, anyone reading this with their own blog can sign up for the weekly Free

Jack Idema Blogburst by emailing Cao or Rottweiler Puppy for details. I'd urge everyone to do this, as we're

still terribly short on takers. If you want to know more about the story, Cao's Blog has a

large section devoted to Jack Idema. There's also a timeline here, and, of course, a huge amount of

information is available over at SuperPatriots, without whose work none of us would have learned about Jack's

story.

You can also contact the people previously listed in this blog and make your feelings known.

Finally, PLEASE NOTE: The SuperPatriots and Jack images on this site are used with WRITTEN COPYRIGHT

PERMISSION and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US

jack idema
afghanistan
Technorati Search for Jack Idema

The Free Jack Idema Blogroll:

The Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill
The Lone Voice
Kender's Musings
Irate Nate
The Devil's Kitchen
Cao's Blog
Big Dog's Weblog
Theodore's World
NIF
Rottweiler Puppy
Making Headlines
Right For Scotland
Freedom Folks
The City Troll
Sacramento Boxing
Causes of Interest
Concatenation of Events
Hyscience
Stuck On Stupid
The Daily Blogster
You Don't Know Jack

"it's a wonderful world" or is it?

jack idema
The Free Jack Idema Blogburst

One of the biggest problems faced by those of us who campaign, week-in, week-out
for the release of falsely-imprisoned U.S. Special Forces soldier Jack Idema and
his compatriot Brent Bennett is the fact that mud sticks.

What this has meant for Jack and Brent is that the outright lies that they were guilty of kidnapping and torture have been repeated so often that many people assume there must be some truth behind the allegations. There isn't.

The section of Jack's counter-terrorist work, then, that has bearing on his arrest and the charges brought against him involved:

• Arresting suspected terrorists.
• Interrogating them in order to obtain actionable intelligence.

Let's look at these in turn, weighing the
credibility of Jack's case against the claims made against
him.

First, then, was Jack entitled to make arrests? The U.S.
State Department and Karzai denied that this was the case, and, further, claimed
Jack was never operating in an official capacity. However, if this was really
the case, we need to ask ourselves how it is that Jack is able to provide ample photographic evidence to the contrary?
Indeed, the attempts to deny Idema was involved in official counter-terrorism
operations in Afghanistan begin to look more than a little shaky when you see
pictures of him:

• Leading columns of Northern Alliance troops
• Rescuing
  civilians from earthquake-hit regions
• Meeting with no less than five
  top Afghan Generals

All of the above should, if nothing else, make the
Karzai/State Department denial that Jack was working in an official capacity
seem scarcely credible. And if that's that the case, how could he possibly be
guilty of kidnapping the terrorists in his custody?

Second, did
Jack torture anyone? This is, more than anything else, the aspect of the case
that disturbed most people at the time of the first (September 2004) trial.
Here's what Jack and his men were accused of in early
press-reports:

These terrorists, who were working directly for
Osama bin Laden and Gulbideen Hekmatyar, both on America’s Most Wanted list, now
claim they were tortured and abused; now claim we smashed their heads in bloody
bags, cut off fingers, poured boiling water on them, hung them upside down and
dipped them in boiling water, repeatedly burned them with cigarettes, beat them
day and night, and refused to feed them.

Certainly, this makes for
grim reading ... Only, here's the thing: No evidence that any of this took
place has ever been presented. None.

When the terrorists Jack and his team arrested appeared in court to give evidence against him, all were in good health, with nary a scold, cigarette-burn, missing finger or bashed head in sight. Also, no photographic or forensic evidence of the alleged 'torture' was produced, and all Jack's accusers refused to be sworn in (on the Koran) before giving testimony. Most tellingly, witnesses claimed that the head-basing and finger-chopping took place in the basement of Jack's house. One, small problem with this claim is that the property in question had no
basement.

So that's the 'case' against Jack Idema and his team. Now
here's Jack himself, describing the real methods he used:

We kept them
awake with 24 hours of non-stop questioning, played loud Rock and Roll music and
offered to let them work for us if they would turn over on the others. All that
we questioned turned on each other. When one didn’t, we did not beat him, we
simple confronted him with two that were cooperating and he quickly decided to
join the same team.
Once they told us a little we gave them non-stop Miranda
soda and restaurant kabob and promises of a new job working against
terrorism.
The soldiers in Iraq that claim their abuse of prisoners was
ordered by MI (Military Intelligence) are liars. You only have a few days at
most to get actionable intelligence. Let a terrorist sit in a cell and you lose
the initiative to find the others. Beat the terrorists and he admits to anything
or nothing. Again you lose. Humiliate the terrorist and he hates you and feeds
you lies.
Your only way to get the terrorists to talk is sleep deprivation,
promises for freedom if he gives up the other terrorists, and convincing the
terrorist you are his friend.

So who do we believe? A group of known
terrorists making claims that they either cannot substantiate or which are
demonstrably untrue (Jack's vanishing basement, the absence of bashed-in heads
and missing fingers)? Or a U.S. Special Forces soldier with decades of service
to his country behind him? Whatever the MSM who so-uncritically covered the case
might think, this isn't a trick question.


So what can we do? Well, anyone
reading this with their own blog can sign up for the weekly Free Jack
Idema Blogburst by emailing Cao
or Rottweiler
Puppy for details. I'd urge everyone to do this, as we're still terribly
short on takers. If you want to know more about the story, Cao's Blog has a large section
devoted to Jack Idema. There's also a
timeline here, and, of course, a huge amount of information is available
over at SuperPatriots, without whose
work none of us would have learned about Jack's story.

You can also contact the following people and make your feelings known:

Secret US EMBASSY Fax: – 301-560-5729 (Local US Fax: Goes RIGHT TO Ambassador)
c/o US Ambassador Ronald Neuman
6180 Kabul Place
Dulles, VA 20189-6180

US Consul Russell Brown – 011-93-70201908 (Fired)

US Consul Addie Harchik- 011-93-70201908 (denied them water and mail at
Thanksgiving)

US Embassy Translator Wahid – new – 011-93-70201902

US Embassy Translator Bashir Momman– 011-93-70201923

US Consul (friend of Jack's Now fired) Dawn Schrepel– 011-93-70201908

Embassy of Afghanistan (Good
guys, Northern Alliance)
2341 Wyoming Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Ph: 202-483-6410, Fax: no. 202-483-6488

Ambassador Massoud Khalili (wounded with Massoud)
Islamic State of Afghanistan
Embassy of Afghanistan
New Delhi, India

H.E. Said Tayeb JAWAD (Afghan Ambassador- powerful in US)
Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington
2341 Wyoming Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008
Tel: (+1-202) 483 6414
Fax: (+1-202) 483 9523

Mr. Jahed Hamrah, Consul General (pro-Taliban)
CONSULATE GENERAL OF
AFGHANISTAN IN NEW YORK
360 Lexington Avenue,
11th Floor New York,
New, York, NY 10017
Tel.: (+1-212) 972 2276 or 972 2277
Fax: (+1-212) 972 9046

Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon – Room # 3E880
Washington, DC 20301-1000
Ph: (703) 692-7100
Fax: (703) 697-9080

Lt General William Boykin
Deputy Undersecretary
of Defense for Intelligence
1800 Defense Pentagon – Room # 3E836
Washington, DC 20301
Ph: (703) 697-0170
Private Fax: (703) 697-9080

Stephen Cambone
Principle Deputy Secretary for Intelligence
1800 Defense Pentagon – Room # 3E
Washington, DC 20310-0100

General Peter J. Shoomaker
Chief of Staff, Department of the Army
200 Army Pentagon – Room # 3E528
Washington, DC 20310-0200
Ph: (703) 695-2077 / Fax: (703) 614-5268

The Honorable John D. Negroponte
Director National Intelligence
New Executive Office Building
725 17th Street, N.W., Room 4203
Washington, DC 20503

The Committee
On Homeland Security
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Chairman Peter Hoekstra
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
H-405, U.S. Capitol
Washington, DC 20515-6415;
Office: (202) 225-4121 / Fax: (202) 225-1991
Toll Free: (877) 858-9040

M. Cherif BASSIOUNI
Independent Expert of the Commission on Human Rights
On the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
UNOG-OHCHR
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Ph: +41(0)22 917 97 27 Fax: +41(0)22 917 90 18
Email

Senator Steven Saland (Jack's Rep and Neighbor)
9 Jonathan Lane
Poughkeepsie, NY 12603

Senator Elizabeth Dole (Jack's Rep)
United States Senate
310 New Bern Avenue, Suite 122
Raleigh, NC 27601
Ph: 919.856.4630
Fax: 919.856.4053

Senator Elizabeth Dole (Jack's Rep)
United States Senate
555 Dirksen Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Ph: 202.224.6342
Fax: 202.224.1100

Senator Richard Burr (of Interest)
United States Senate
217 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3154 / Fax: (202) 228-2981

Senator Bill Nelson (in the fight on Jack's Side)
United States Senate
Hart Senate Office Building
Room 716
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-5274 / Fax: 202-228-2183
FL Fax 407-872-7165

Senator Dianne Feinstein (Bennett's Representative)
United States Senate
Hart Office Building, Room 331
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3841

Representative Mike McIntyre (Jack's Representative)
United States Congress
2437 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2731 / Fax (202) 225-5773

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (reference Captain Bennett- CA citizen)
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841 / Fax: 916-445-4633


Finally, PLEASE NOTE: The SuperPatriots and Jack images on this
site are used with WRITTEN COPYRIGHT PERMISSION and any use by any third party
is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US

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