Thursday, November 23, 2006

Free Jack Idema Blogburst 11/23/2006

One of the biggest problems facing illegally-imprisoned U.S. Special Forces soldier Jack Idema has always been the issue of 'plausible deniability'; that is, the willingness of a few, extremely courageous, individuals to work without the 'safety net' of their country's support should they be captured. If this does happen, such men fully expect to have their own governments deny all knowledge of their missions, and to find themselves treated no better than common mercenaries or criminals. Moreover, soldiers serving in this capacity expect to allow themselves to be tarred with this brush; to maintain their government's secrets and take a fall rather than reveal the nature of their (fully-sanctioned) covert missions.

These are the risks that Jack Idema, and the many others like him, accepted in their work during the War On Terror. They do so because they realise that, without the ability to put skilled soldiers and agents in situations where they are not 'supposed' to be, no war can be effectively prosecuted.

However. 'Plausible Deniability' refers to how a soldier's own government react to his capture by an enemy power. No soldier serving under such circumstances should expect his own government to collude with an enemy in his arrest, torture and imprisonment.

Honour, you see, has to cut both ways.If we expect an honourable silence from our Special Forces soldiers, then our governments should, at least, not actively betray them for political gain.

This is, of course, something that those of us who've campaigned on behalf of Jack Idema have always accused the U.S. State Department of having been guilty of -- That when it was politically-expedient to do so, they not only denied all knowledge of the mission they sent him on, but also, and shamefully, assisted the U.S.'s enemies in arresting, torturing and imprisoning Jack and his men.

So far, however, Jack Idema's has been the only voice raised in protest against these shameful games of realpolitik, played by effete careerist diplomats, and with brave men's lives. This week, however, that all changed:
Days later in a dingy room he had electrodes attached to his feet. "Admit you're an American spy," snapped the sinister general interrogating him."I shouted I'm not... F***!' The pain as the current went through me was excruciating," says Berry. His torture went on for six months during which he was caged in a dark 4ft by 8ft cell with an earth floor and no bed or toilet.

When he attacked an officer and tried to escape, he was kicked to a pulp by other guards and then whipped across the back with a metal cable.

"I don't know how long this beating went on, but I lost consciousness," says Berry. He was so badly beaten he ended up in hospital where, at last, British Embassy officials visited him.
This, disturbing, extract comes from the recently-published account of one, Colin Berry, a British agent who found himself cut-loose in a manner similar to Idema.For Berry, the 'embarrassing' situation the U.S. and Britain wished to cover up by feeding him to the Islamofascist wolves was that he survived an assassination attempt by killing his two would-be murderers.

For Jack Idema, the 'embarrassment' was that he arrested an 'ex'-Taliban terrorist with too much political clout.

Only, here's the thing: Do we really believe that the likes of Colin Berry and Jack Idema are expendable? Assets to be thrown aside whenever they become only slightly inconvenient? Or do we take a stand against the kind of people who think electro-torturing our own troops for minor political gain is the way we should fight wars?

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.

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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 Right Wing Nation.