Free Jack Idema Blogburst 5/31/2006

In concentrating on the gross injustice of the illegal imprisonment of former U.S. Special Forces soldier Jack Idema, and his right-hand man Brent Bennett, it’s possible to forget about Idema’s contribution to the WoT. This would be a mistake, as understanding what Jack does and how he thinks is an important part of the story.

In 2001, Jack Idema, then in his mid-forties, was enjoying retirement from the U.S. army. When 9/11 occurred, he contacted the military immediately and had himself placed back on the active service list and shipped out to Afghanistan. He arrived two weeks after the twin towers fell, with orders to organise air-drops supplying the Northern Alliance, who then controlled only the northern 10% of the country.

This was at the beginning of the two-month period in which a coalition of U.S. Special Forces, British SAS and Northern Alliance troops swept across the whole of Afghanistan, routing Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Here’s Idema’s take on what it was like to participate in this action:

Massoud’s forces, Buldock and some of the other guys like Captain Mark Mitch who was in Dostrum’s area up in the northwest of Afghanistan, they did a remarkable job, they really did. And quite frankly, it shocked the conventional forces and it shocked the Pentagon at how fast.

This is the difference between Iraq and Afghanistan: 100,000 of Massoud’s mujahideen picked up weapons and stood next to us and fought. In Iraq not a single Iraqi picked up a weapon to fight the Iraq government. So there’s a huge difference here; this is a country that wanted liberation, and they were willing to die for that liberation. All they needed was our air support and our advice, and we gave it to them.

The bombing started October 12th and on November 12th. Kabul fell. After Kabul fell, we headed to Tora Bora and other places. I took one of the Northern Alliance groups into Tora Bora later on into Shahi Khot and Anaconda, and it was really a (cuts out) as far as an unconventional war.

It’s tremendously important we remember that without Special Forces troops like Jack Idema, the push to liberate Afghanistan would have been delayed by the months it would have taken to get conventional forces in place. Instead, the Taliban were removed from power with remarkable efficiency. Compared to the losses conventional forces would have suffered, the cost was remarkably only a few coalition lives.

If you care about our Military, please go Cao's Blog, and read about Jack's situation. Make your own decision. If you agree with me that every American should be brought home to face justice, if indeed there was any injustice occurring. The Afghani government has declared him innocent. Twice. So why is he still there? Because you are not writing!

If you believe as you say you do, here are some things you can do. Sign up for the weekly Free Jack Idema Blogburst by emailing Cao or Rottweiler Puppy for details. 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. Thank you.

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.

The Free Jack Idema Blogroll:
Acts of Aggression, Big Dog's Weblog, Cao's blog, Causes of Interest, concatenation of events, Devil's Kitchen, Freedom Folks, Irate Nate, Kender's Musings, Making Headlines, NIF, Red Hot Cuppa Politics, Right For Scotland, Rottweiler Puppy, Sacramento Boxing, Stuck on Stupid, The City Troll, The Lone Voice, The Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill, and Theodore's World.

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