Free Jack Idema Blogburst 2/28/2006

It has now been four weeks since anyone in the outside world has heard from illegally-imprisoned US Special Forces soldier Jack Idema. Since it seems likely (though by no means certain) that if Jack had been killed or seriously injured in clashes with Karzai's troops, news of this would have been released by now, those of us working to bring this man home have every reason to be more hopeful than was the case two weeks ago.

However Jack's inability to reach either a sat-phone or internet connection is still cause for concern. Indeed, this extended silence raises the possibility that he is no longer in his compound at Pulacharke at all but has been moved to Tawab Keef prison.

As anyone following this story will remember way back in October of last year, the following preparations for such a transfer were put in place:

At Tawab Keef prison near the US Embassy in Kabul, cells 2 and 10 await. The previous occupants, about 20 Afghans, were cleared out about two days prior to the dinner at Pulacharke with the Commandant. And everyone at Tawab Keef knew who the two Americans were who were about to arrive.

At that time of course, Jack's second-in-command, Brent Bennett was also being held in Pulacharke. Both men were expected to attend a dinner with the prison Commandant at which point they were to be ambushed and forcibly transferred to a pair of solitary confinement cells at Tawab Keef. By chance, however, Jack was unwell that day. Since Karzai's goons were unable to seize both men at that time, only Brent was captured. Faced with the prospect of Jack raising hell about Brent's whereabouts, Karzai was forced to settle for having him removed from Afghanistan.

Since then, Jack's compound at Pulacharke has been under siege from soldiers loyal to Karzai. In January this year, these troops renewed their attempts to dislodge Jack as evidenced by the last photos we have of him, fighting for his life with a baseball bat and Molotov cocktails.

So the question begs: After months of trying, have Karzai's soldiers finally managed to move Jack to Tawab Keef? This would certainly explain why no one has heard from, or of, him in a month.

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, 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, Ron's Musings, Right Voices, 7.62mm Justice, Special/Blown-It, And Rightly So!, Causal Nexus and Death To The Swiss.