Free Jack Idema 12/07/2005

Here is some further information to help you gather details and voice your opinion. Cao is very passionate about this matter, so I have not removed any of the words that belong to her. However, these are not all my opinions. Maybe if I knew as much as she...

This past week, there was a lot of buzz out there about Condi responding to the charges that the Washington Post first alleged that the CIA may have maintained secret prisons in Eastern Europe, culminating in a formal request by the European Union for an explanation.

This charge of the American government conducting something which is called "rendition" is applicable in the Idema case, and I don't see anyone raising any hell over it but me and my blogburst buddies.

Jack Idema was tortured by Afghans who were serving as proxies for the FBI--in a land where there is no law. Now Afghanistan has laws, nobody abides by them. Karzai has signed agreements in order to receive the tremendous funds he's getting to "rebuild" Afghanistan.

The question still remains--why is our government leaving Jack Idema, Brent Bennett and Ed Caraballo hanging out to dry?

The Jack Idema case is the best one I can think of --of proof of exactly what the State Department is being charged with--"rendition". Only the tragedy of it is--these aren't terrorists without a country or a uniform--these are Americans who were proudly fighting the war on terror and looking to find Bin Laden.

Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern reportedly said after a Washington meeting with Rice that she expected U.S. allies to take it on trust that the U.S. does not allow abuses of prisoners.

We already know that it DOES--and apparently they don't care if they're AMERICAN PRISONERS who were dutifully and patriotically fighting the war on terror. Now it's all well and good for the European public, secret prisons in themselves — and not simply the question of whether any abuses may have occurred in them — is a red line. But while Secretary Rice may be out to convince her European colleagues that they're better off letting well enough alone on the issue, now that it's being discussed in the public square, turning a blind eye may no longer be possible.

In the case of Jack Idema, it's not even a "secret" prison--it's a well-known horrible place where thousands have died--Pol-e-charke prison. And let's not forget the even more horrible place-- Saderat--where they were horribly starved, beaten and tortured.

It's time to turn up the heat on all our elected representatives, because this absolutely should not stand. How on earth can someone remain in detention--remain in prison--after they've been declared innocent by the country where they're being held? This whole affair is so convoluted it's beyond description.

Contact your representatives and ask them why Idema is being held at Pulacharke when he's been declared innocent by the Afghans since at least December of last year.

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
Website: http://www.embassyofafghanistan.org/

We should make it clear that we know what has gone on here and that it's an outrage and all men from TF Sabre/7 should be released, exonerated, their names cleared. And we should be also pushing for a Congressional investigation as to who was involved, the how and the why. Nobody fighting in Afghanistan or Iraq should EVER have to worry about being hung out to dry like this by a government that is employing stalinist tactics and turning its back on all the freedoms and rights that have been provided and guaranteed us by our founding documents and the blood of our forefathers, many of whom are laying at Arlington cemetary--as well as old standards which all men in uniform think they have as safeguards such as the Geneva Conventions. Are we to apply the Geneva Conventions to terrorists to whom these safeguards don't apply and ignore them for our men in uniform for whom they were written???

If so, we're setting ourselves up for FAILURE in this TERROR WAR.

This is the "Free Jack" campaign.
To join the campaign, email me and tell me you want to join the Free Jack Idema blogburst. You will be added to the blogroll and I'll send you the html code to put up for that week in case you're pressed for time and can't put something together...or you can write your own. We will be blogging on this every Wednesday until he and his team are released, and when they are, we'll be blogging about a congressional hearing.

I will maintain an email list, and will email you the post of the week along with a picture (if there is one for that week) to host at your blog.

Join the fight. No American should ever have to worry about ending up in this predicament ever again. But first, we must make sure they get home safely and in one piece.

Fidelis ad urnam.

Cao.

Blogs who are not posting on this and linking back to me will be deleted from the blogroll. I will be checking.

To write to the many embassadors and important Senators involved in this case, continue reading here. Thank you for all your input and help. Have a nice day.