The Free Jack Idema Blogburst 8/23/2006

Below, it is my hope you will find an atrocity. An outrage. One of our very own is being held as a POW, while 2 courts have found him innocent. Why is this occurring? Look no further than the State Department.

This has been written by Cao over at Cao's Blog. Please read it and see you agree. If you agree, there is a way you may help. Thank you, and have a great day.

Although illegally-imprisoned U.S. Special Forces soldier Jack Idema and his compatriot Captain Brent Bennett are now held under the protection of their friends in the Northern Alliance, it's always worth remembering how different things were for them in the months prior to their first trial back in 2004.

While the terrorists we capture are treated to lemon chicken, in the three months between his arrest in June 2004 and the start of his trial in September, Jack and his men were subjected to the following, appalling treatment:

Shortly after their arrest, they were subjected to varying degrees of torture and interrogation, apparently determined by rank. Jack Idema was repeatedly beaten by, and in the presence of- Amrullah at NDS Headquarters, as was Lieutenant Rasuli. A palace official was personally aware of and authorizing, at a minimum, Idema’s initial torture at NDS Headquarters by Amrullah, with FBI agents in close proximity and directing the interrogation.

During the following days and nights Idema was tortured with boiling water, starvation, threats of death, and assault with various implements (such as wire cables and rubber whips), resulting in broken ribs, a separated sternum, torn rotator cuffs, haemorrhaged eyes, multiple concussions, lacerations, contusions, and bruises.

Although the U.S. Embassy later had medical reports indicating the extent of the torture, Sandra Ingram, Assistant U.S. Consul DOS Kabul, ordered the reports rewritten to tone down the extent of the injuries.

During the torture, Idema was restrained by Taliban iron leg bars and American Handcuff Company Restraints (Serial Number # 177709) supplied by the U.S. Department of Justice. Further, reportedly FBI personnel were well aware of the ongoing torture and did nothing to intercede or stop it, and actually encouraged it.

Along with the physical abuses suffered by Jack and his men, they were also denied a fair trail. The judge, a 'former' member of the Taliban who had previously amused himself by sentencing women to death-by-stoning for adultery, announced that Afghan law was only 'a guideline.' He intended to try Idema using the Taliban's legal system.

What this meant, in essence, was that Jack and Brent were denied anything even approaching a fair trail, as is illustrated by the following:

Bennett finally received a Afghan lawyer, a female, in September 2004, ten days before the final verdict. She met Bennett ONE TIME for 20 MINUTES. She promptly informed Bennett that if she represented him, Bakhtyari [the trial judge], would not allow her to speak because she was a woman.

He did not normally allow women to appear in his court without a Burka. Then she dropped the real bomb– if she appeared in court for Bennett, she would be murdered.

Inside the courtroom, the abuses of due process continued:

Jack read the law about being able to call a witness and Bakhtyari said, “ok, call your witness.”

Fatah handed a secret note up once again. This time to Prosecutor Dawari who read it, smiled, then handed it to Bakhtyari. The Taliban Judge read the note, chuckled, then said, “We will save calling witnesses until the next hearing, and you can do it then. This hearing is finished.”

After four more hearings, and a verdict of guilty, the defence had still not been allowed to call a single witness or ask a single question of any of the terrorists who claimed they were hung upside down at the first “press conference.” Upon learning of this, Bakhtyari later called a hearing.

Clearly, the verdict in this mockery of a trial was a forgone conclusion: Jack and his men were found guilty and imprisoned alongside the very terrorists they'd been hunting three months earlier.

Once behind bars and out of the media spotlight, Jack was the victim of almost a dozen assassination attempts during prisoner 'riots'. Indeed, if it hadn't been for his allies in the Northern Alliance entering the prison and moving him to the relative safety of the annex he and Brent now occupy, he would likely have died in late 2004.

As things stand, Jack and Brent still rely on friends in the U.S. military to smuggle clean drinking water to them -- The U.S. State Department refuses to offer them any aid and threatens anyone caught assisting them with disciplinary measures.

So what can we do? Well, anyone reading this and has 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's 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:
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 and The Daily Blogster.

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Category: POW's.