Free Jack Idema Blogburst 4/11/2007

After almost three years of illegal-imprisonment, it looks as though US Special Forces soldier Jack Idema is on the verge of being freed:

An American prisoner held in Afghanistan for allegedly running a private prison was scheduled to be released from his Afghan prison as the State Department and the FBI faced a Tuesday deadline to answer allegations that they ordered his torture and manipulated the Afghan judicial system.

Jack Idema is the last of three U.S. citizens imprisoned in Afghanistan in the alleged operation. Idema said they were hunting terrorists as part of a mission sanctioned by U.S. counterterror officials.

Idema's attorneys filed a lawsuit in Washington in 2005 challenging his detention. Idema accused the State Department and FBI of illegally keeping him imprisoned in a deplorable Afghan prison, directing his torture, destroying evidence and ultimately trying to have him killed. He said he has audio recordings and documents to back up his claims.

U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan had said he was "deeply troubled" by the allegations and had given the U.S. government until Tuesday to respond.

"Petitioners allege that United States officials ordered their arrest, ordered their torture, stole exculpatory evidence during their trial and appeal, exerted undue influence over Afghan judges, and either directly or indirectly ordered judges who found petitioners innocent not to release petitioners from prison," Sullivan wrote.

The U.S. Justice Department, which represents the government in court, did not respond to the Tuesday deadline. Instead, government attorneys asked that the case be thrown out because they say the Afghan government granted Idema amnesty and commuted his sentence.

Of course, this is absolutely fantastic news for Jack, his family and all those of us who've campaigned for his release over the past three years. While we wait on final confirmation that Jack is free, however, it really is worth considering the reason all this happened.

For the past two years we've pointed out that the US State Department in Afghanistan has some serious explaining to do over its handling of the Idema case; that US Government officials colluded with Jack's team's 'former' Taliban captors in subjecting Task Force Sabre 7 to brutal tortures and, after the September 2004 convictions, they routinely denied Jack and Brent access to mail, care packages, medical supplies and even clean drinking water.

We've also pointed out that it was the US State Department which moved to keep Jack and Brent in custody after they were cleared of all wrongdoing on appeal in early 2005. As long as these people were never called upon to answer any of the charges against them, they were quite happy to leave Jack Idema rotting in the Afghan prison system, forgotten and alone.

Only, here's the thing: U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan had the moral courage to demand answers as to how all this could happen to an American citizen whose only 'crime' was hunting the men responsible for 9/11.

In an effort to avoid giving any answers, the State Department appears to have ordered Idema's release. The coldly-calculated reasoning at work here is that if Jack is a free man, then Judge Sullivan may stop asking inconvenient questions.

Whether or not this turns out to be the case, however, it should be obvious that the timing of Jack Idema's release points to the guilt of the men and women who saw to his imprisonment. For the first time since June 2004 it is they, and not Jack, who'll wake up each morning wondering what unpleasant surprises the future has in store.

Thank God he is finally coming home. Please pray for a safe return home for Jack. It's about time...

Update: Cao has an article you just have to read. She also has many links to the news coverage of Jack's release. Here is article she wrote the day before announcing his release. Please visit her site.

Technorati tags: jack idema, afghanistan and Technorati Search for Jack Idema.

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, Death To The Swiss and A Real Man.

Free Jack Idema Blogburst: 3/28/2007

It's now been eight very long weeks since anyone has heard from illegally-imprisoned US Special Forces soldier Jack Idema. While we continue the anxious wait for any developments, this past week has brought two pieces of good news in the case.

First, there was the news that a US Judge, Emmet G. Sullivan, had taken an interest in Jack, and, in particular, the involvement of the FBI and US State Department in Idema's arrest and torture:

While this Court is keenly aware of case law suggesting that it does not have jurisdiction over a habeas petition stemming from a foreign conviction and sentence, petitioners’ claim does more than simply challenge a foreign conviction. Petitioners allege that United States officials ordered their arrest, ordered their torture, stole exculpatory evidence during their trial and appeal, exerted undue influence over Afghan judges, and either directly or indirectly ordered judges who found petitioners innocent not to release petitioners from prison.
[...]
The Court cannot simply ignore petitioners’ alleged facts and find that it lacks jurisdiction without any response to these troubling facts by respondents.

Judge Sullivan goes on to demand a response by April 10th.

What is particularly encouraging about this motion is Sullivan's refusal to simply dismiss Jack's plight as a matter internal to the Afghan justice system. Although this is something the Free Jack Campaign have always stressed, this is the first time anyone on the 'outside' has recognised that Idema's arrest, torture, trial and illegal-imprisonment happened with the direct involvement of the US Government.

The second piece of good news this week comes from one of our US Military sources in Kabul:

Heard through the grapevine from a few friends in Kabul that Jack’s judge was fired, placed under arrest, and is being investigated by the Justice Commission for his conduct of Jack’s trial.

This, presumably, means Abdul Baset Bakhtyari, the 'former' Taliban Judge who stated, at Jack and his team's first 'trial', that he intended to conduct the case according to the Taliban criminal code instead of post-liberation Afghan law. Bakhtyari also refused to allow Jack and his men to submit evidence in their own defence or cross-examine any of the witnesses giving evidence against them. Bakhtyari also ejected the only competent interpreter from the court after half-a-day's work, threatening to have him arrested if he returned for the afternoon session. In fact, the interpreter in question was lucky -- When Brent was appointed a female lawyer, one of Bakhtyari's Taliban associates threatened her with death if she so much as set foot in the courtroom. If it is, indeed, true that Bakhtyari is under investigation for these flagrant abuses of the Afghan legal system, this can only be a good thing.

However. There are two issues that must not be ignored: One is whether Bakhtyari is being set-up as a scapegoat so that the equally guilty parties in the US State Department, the FBI and the Karzai administration can dodge Judge Sullivan's attention.

The second, and more pressing, matter is the whereabouts and wellbeing of the man at the center of this legal storm. Just where is Jack Idema?

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

Technorati tags: jack idema, afghanistan and Technorati Search for Jack Idema

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, Death To The Swiss and A Real Man.

Jack Idema Gets US Judicial Support

Just when it seemed as though things couldn't get any worse for illegally-imprisoned US Special Forces soldier Jack Idema, they suddenly -- Got a Whole lot better:

The following transaction was entered on 3/21/2007 at 11:59 AM and filed on 3/21/2007

Case Name: IDEMA et al v. RICE et al
Case Number: 1:05-cv-2064
Document Number: 43

Docket Text: ORDER dismissing as moot habeas claims of petitioners Bennett, Caraballo, and Banderas, denying as moot [26] petitioners’ Life & Death Emergency Motion; denying [7] petitioners’ Motion for TRO and Other Relief and Rule 60 Motion; denying as moot [12] petitioners’ Motion to Compel; denying as moot [23] respondents’ Motion for Reconsideration; directing respondents to respond to factual allegations and show cause as to petitioner Idema by April 10, 2007. Signed by Judge Emmet G. Sullivan on March 21, 2007.

Or, to translate this from legalise into plain English:

My name is Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, and I couldn't give a don't frankly care what either President Karzai or the US State Department think. What I want to know, and all I want to know, is why a certain US citizen by the name of Jack Idema seems to have been tortured and falsely-imprisoned with the apparent complicity of the United States Government.

Here's the court's statement in full:

"Idema is the only individual who still remains incarcerated at Pulacharke Prison in Afghanistan. The Court is deeply troubled by the allegations raised in the habeas petition and various subsequent filings regarding the level of U.S. control over petitioners’ arrest, conviction, appeal, and confinement.
"While this Court is keenly aware of case law suggesting that it does not have jurisdiction over a habeas petition stemming from a foreign conviction and sentence, petitioners’ claim does more than simply challenge a foreign conviction. Petitioners allege that United States officials ordered their arrest, ordered their torture, stole exculpatory evidence during their trial and appeal, exerted undue influence over Afghan judges, and either directly or indirectly ordered judges who found petitioners innocent not to release petitioners from prison."

"These facts are alleged in a habeas petition and later statements of fact and affidavits that have all been verified as true and correct by petitioners under penalty of perjury."

"The Court cannot simply ignore petitioners’ alleged facts and find that it lacks jurisdiction without any response to these troubling facts by respondents. Indeed, the respondents have invited the Court to seek further information from respondents regarding the facts in this case. Accordingly, the respondents shall respond to petitioners’ factual allegations and show cause why this Court should not grant a writ of habeas corpus to petitioner Idema by April 10, 2007."

All good stuff but for those of us who feel the Truth ought to be sum-uppable in a single line, here's what Jack's second-in-command, Captain Brent Bennett had to say about this judgement:

Reap the whirlwind.

Well. Yes. After four long, agonizing years, maybe the storm-clouds are finally building.

Free Jack Idema Blogburst 3/21/2007

It's now been seven very long weeks since anyone has heard from illegally-imprisoned US Special Forces soldier Jack Idema. For those of us involved in this campaign week-in and week-out, it is, perhaps, easy to forget just how strange this entire situation is.

Consider: here we have a US citizen, tried in a Taliban court and illegally-imprisoned for four years who has, quite simply, been removed from all contact with the outside world. Right now, Jack is unable to:

• Make or receive phone calls.
• Send or receive mail.
• Receive visitors.
• Receive care packages.

Indeed, the isolation of being imposed on Jack is so total is hell enough. Add to this that no one even knows where he is being held, and see if you have the courage to do this for your country.

How different things are for the head-hacking Taliban crazies who wind up in Afghan prisons these days:

An international dispute was developing last night after an Italian journalist kidnapped by the Taleban was released, apparently in exchange for five senior Taleban insurgents who had been held in an Afghan jail.
[...]
Mr Karzai's spokesman said: "There were some demands, and some of the demands were accepted. You see the result of it, the journalist was released. This was an exceptional case, and it will not happen again."

But Adrian Edwards, the UN spokesman in Afghanistan, said: "The UN does not negotiate with terrorists." The Afghan Independent Journalists' Association said that the deal was "not acceptable", and a spokesman from the US Embassy in Kabul said: "It is US policy not to make concessions to terrorists' demands."

Of course, this simply isn't true -- A recurring theme of the Free Jack Blogbursts has always been the steady trickle of Islamists fanatics Karzai has been quietly setting free in return for either hostages. As with the Pulacharke riots in early-2006, the return for ceasing to repeatedly gang-rape 50 female prisoners.

Point of fact, the Karzai method for dealing with problematic Islamofascists has always been to offer them deals. Thus:

• Threaten to behead a journalist -- Karzai will release some Holy Warriors.
• Threaten to butcher 50 female hostages in a prison riot -- Karzai will release some Holy Warriors

And

• Complain your feathers have been ruffled because a man called Jack Idema arrested a Taliban High Court Judge -- Karzai will torture, illegally-imprison, then finally disappear the Green Beret in question.

Anything to oblige the head-hackers.

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.

Technorati tags: jack idema, afghanistan and Technorati Search for Jack Idema.

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, Death To The Swiss and A Real Man.

Free Jack Idema Blogburst 3/7/2007

It has now been five weeks since anyone heard from illegally-imprisoned US Special Forces soldier Jack Idema. All those of us who are involved with the campaign to bring Jack home remain deeply concerned.

Alongside bloggers, of course, Jack's cause has always been backed to-the-hilt by the Special Forces soldiers he has served with throughout his long military career.

The most public aspect of this side to the Free Jack campaign is the SuperPatriots website, which is administered, on Jack's behalf, by US Special Forces personnel. These are the men who refused to just let Jack disappear from public view after his arrest in 2004, and have worked hard to keep the Idema case alive.

Back in 2004, it must be remembered, MSM were relentlessly pushing the State Department's lies that Jack was:

• Barely-qualified as a soldier
• Virtually unknown to US Forces in Afghanistan

These (wholly false) accusations were very damaging to Jack, and would have continued to be so without the soldiers (both British and American) who've spent the last three years feeding us the evidence we need to disprove them.

For those who suggested that Jack was an 'unmotivated radio operator', anonymous British soldiers fed us photographs of Idema training with the SAS (Britain's elite Special Forces). And, for those who claimed that Jack had no contact with the US military in Afghanistan, there was the sequence of photographs, taken from security cameras, of a well-armed Idema being waved-through a checkpoint at a high-security US Army base.

Indeed, even when there is no new intel to disseminate, Jack's supporters take the time to honour him:

Jack Idema: The forgotten hero

So who do we believe? The US State Department's claims that Jack was an unprofessional nobody? Or the dozens of serving US and British soldiers queuing up to tell the truth about an honourable soldier betrayed?

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

Technorati tags: jack idema, afghanistan and Technorati Search for Jack Idema

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, Death To The Swiss and A Real Man.

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.

Technorati tags: jack idema, afghanistan and Technorati Search for Jack Idema.

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.

Free Jack Idema Blogburst 2/21/2007

And we wait, and we wait.

It's been three weeks now since anyone heard from Jack Idema, and the silence is, as they say, deafening.

On the plus side Jack's attorney, John Tiffany, has said that he's (we quote) 'Okay'.

Quite what 'okay' means is something we're trying to work out -- Does it mean that nothing has changed since Jack's January battles with Karzai's troops? That Jack's alive, but injured? That Jack's been moved to Bagram Airbase? That Jack's been moved (which is something Jack himself feared) to solitary-confinement cell No. 2 in Tawab Keef prison? We. Just. Don't. Know.

While we continue to wait this one out (but with more optimism than a week ago) here's a video of Jack Idema, the 'soldier of fortune', the 'mercenary' and the 'torturer' hard at work 'oppressing' the Afghan people:



One of the women Jack dragged out of her earthquake-demolished home back in 2002 had spent hours crouching over her newly-born baby daughter. Sharifa named the child Suzzana Viktoria, after Jack's wife.

Right now, it's to be hoped that little Suzzana grows up in a world that will eventually exonerate and honour the brave American who made her life possible. Because, really, it's a frightening thought that someday she'll have to learn about how Jack Idema wound up, alone, in Tawab Keef prison.

And so we wait. And so we hope.

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

Technorati tags: jack idema, afghanistan and Technorati Search for Jack Idema

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 And Rightly So!

Free Jack Idema Blogburst 2/14/2007

For my little two cents: Please keep praying...

As of today, it's been almost two weeks since anyone outside of Pulacharke Prison heard from Jack Idema, and four days since a reliable source emailed Cao the following, deeply disturbing, report from the Kabul Times. We'll quote the article in full:

(KABUL) Persistent rumors support an armed confrontation at Pul-e-Charki Prison in Afghanistan, which resulted in the death or serious injury of an American Citizen.

While the exact days are unclear, one unnamed source in the Afghan Ministry of Justice has stated an American held at Afghanistan's Central Prison was killed during a stand-off with government forces. Another source, in the paramilitary division of the Ministry of Justice has stated that although the American appears to be seriously wounded, he is still barricaded inside his prison area and holding off a large ANA, Afghanistan National Army, contingent sent to extract him by President Hamid Karzai.

Dead Americans
American casualties are climbing everyday in Afghanistan and Iraq. Most of those are military personnel, and some are DOD civilian contractors. That they are killed by Taleban and al-Qaeda insurgents goes in Hamid Karzai's favor. It means more sympathy to his cause, more aid, and more professionally trained foreign soldiers.

If an American was killed at Pulacharke by Karzai's ANA, or even wounded, Karzai could find himself facing a backlash of support, regardless of the reasons behind the event.

General Mohammed Tawab, the former security commander at Pul-e-Charki, which houses more that 3,000 prisoners, almost all without water or electricity, says his people have reported that "the ANA was ordered by the palace to fire on the American. I liked him, Mr. Jack was a very good person who helped Afghanistan in bad time. I do not agree with how he was dealt with."

That comment is the only time the American's name has ever been mentioned during inquiries, referring to Jonathan "Jack" Keith Idema, a former Green Beret who was arrested with two other Americans and several Afghans, for entering the country illegally in 2004, and running a private jail. During his two and half years in Afghanistan's most notorious prison, Idema has had more than his fair share of publicity, capturing headlines around the world as a mercenary, a freedom fighter, and most of all, a fraud. General Mohammed Kaiz at the Ministry of Justice claims "Mr. Jack freed our people, the terrorists hated him. They tried to kill him many times. The people of Bamiyan will miss his him and remember his courage." Bamiyan is a province dominated by the Hazara tribe in western Afghanistan. Kaiz would not comment on the actual fate of Idema, only offer his sympathy to Idema's family, quite possibly the only comment needed to sort out the mystery.

President Karzai's press secretary has refused to comment, simply saying, "I cannot give you any answers. This is an American matter. Afghans die every day and the world does not even know their names. One American dies and we get 500 calls to the palace. You people think you deserve to live more than Muslims."

He did augment his comments with the disclaimer that this was his personal view, "not Mr. Karzai's view, His Excellency has no opinion on this matter. Afghanistan will not tolerate Christian insolence.

The mystery deepens
Sources inside the National Police say they escorted the body of American from Pul-e-Charki to Bagram Air Base on September 25, 2007. The Ministry of Interior spokesman says it was a Nigerian prisoner, not the only American at Pul-e-Charki who is well cared for.

General Ezmerai of the ANA, still suffering from desertions and corruption, stated that "our American friend was not attacked by my forces and will not be attacked by my forces. This is a matter between the American Embassy and Mr. Jack."

Pul-e-Charki is not allowing foreign visitors this week, and reports of fires, hunger strikes by Afghan inmates, and gunfire and rocket propelled grenades fired into Idema's block have been confirmed by at least a dozen witnesses. From a distance, the private floor Idema was housed in shows evidence of extensive fires, bullet holes, and what appear to be rocket impacts.

Idema's weekly radio show from Pul-e-Charki Prison, often broadcast on ISAF and Coalition radio stations, and laced with anti-Karzai venom, did not endear him to the Karzai-Pashtun controlled government. If Idema was killed by Karzai's new National Army, it would be a sad but fitting end to Afghanistan's most controversial character.

He once said, when contacted after an assassination attempt which left at least six dead and five wounded, "reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated."

Hamid Karzai, already on shaky ground with a failing government, deteriorating security, and the loss of substantial ground to the Taliban resurgence, might want to give the press corps a formal statement before rumors spin out of control, not uncommon in Afghanistan.

So what do we know for sure? Sadly, very little. The Kabul Times is Afghanistan's oldest English-language newspaper, but doesn't have an online edition. Since this story hasn't been carried anywhere else, and since no one on the ground has been able to get any information, the situation remains desperately uncertain.

Then there are the obvious inconsistencies in the Kabul Times report:

• Jack is reported as both barricaded in his compound and moved to Bagram Airbase.
• The Afghan military (ANA) are reported as attacking Jack, but they strenuously deny this and their commander on the ground describes Idema as a 'friend'.
• The date September 25, 2007 is mentioned, which makes no sense at all -- It seems odd, to say the least, that an established, English-language paper would get this detail wrong.

This much said, however, the last 'visual' we had of Jack showed him fighting off uniformed attackers with Molotov cocktails and a baseball bat. This would seem to tally with the Kabul Times' report of fighting in and around Jack's compound.

For now, and until we know anything definite, all any of us can do is keep Jack and his family in our thoughts and prayers. This is a very dark time indeed.

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.

Tecnorati tags: jack idema, afghanistan and Technorati Search for Jack Idema.

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 And Rightly So!.

Free Jack Idema Blogburst 2/10/2006

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.

I must add my two cents here. This is breaking my heart. This is the one man who can catch bin Ladin, and our government keeps him locked him locked up in prison because they are embarrassed?! How dare you! I am ashamed of you.

Our State Department refused him fresh water, food, blankets, letters, and everything we have to provide for these freakin' terrorists! I want some heads to roll.

You see, Jack Idema was found NOT GUILTY of any crimes way back in 2004. So why is he still in prison? Ask the State Department. They are the ones working with our enemies. Damn traitors.

The rest is written by Cao and Rotty.

This is the post that those of us who've campaigned for Jack Idema's release have always dreaded we'd have to write. However. The Kabul Times is reporting the following:

Persistent rumors support an armed confrontation at Pul-e-Charki Prison in Afghanistan, which resulted in the death or serious injury of an American Citizen.

While the exact days are unclear, one unnamed source in the Afghan Ministry of Justice has stated an American held at Afghanistan’s Central Prison was killed during a stand-off with government forces. Another source in the paramilitary division of the Ministry of Justice has stated that although the American appears to be seriously wounded, he is still barricaded inside his prison area and holding off a large ANA, Afghanistan National Army, contingent sent to extract him by President Hamid Karzai.

[...]

General Mohammed Kaiz at the Ministry of Justice claims “Mr. Jack freed our people, the terrorists hated him. They tried to kill him many times. The people of Bamiyan will miss him and remember his courage.”

Bamiyan is a province dominated by the Hazara tribe in western Afghanistan. Kaiz would not comment on the actual fate of Idema, only offer his sympathy to Idema’s family, quite possibly the only comment needed to sort out the mystery.

Certainly Jack has been in dire straits many times before, and quite surely any news report that reaches us via email and contains references to events taking place in September 2007 is suspect. But. No one at our end has been in direct contact with Jack for over a week now, and the images we received out of Pulacharke back in January were not pretty.

For now, all we can do is keep Jack and his family in our hopes and prayers.

This does not look good, not good at all.

Please excuse my outburst, but I hope you understand that I have been here since I found out about it. That's at least a couple of years we've been trying to get him released. If he dies or is murdered, his blood is on our governments hands. DO NOT TRUST OUR GOVERNMENT TO HELP YOU. Forget about these social program. They are a snare to keep you poor so when it comes time for re-election they can point to YOU whom they've MADE poor. Do you see a cycle here? DO IT YOURSELF. You can do whatever the government offers 100% better, and it will cost you 1000 times less.

I would say have a nice day, but instead I am going to ask you pray for Jack and his family. If you don't believe in God, so what? I don't really care about you right now! Who the hell are you to order me not to ask people to pray? Go away, you troll.

Free Jack Idema Blogburst: 2/7/2007

In telling the story of illegally-imprisoned US Special Forces soldier Jack Idema, it's important not to forget the loyalty and support shown by his allies in the Northern Alliance.

These were the men who fought alongside US and British Special Forces (Jack included), pushing the Taliban out of power in 2001. Idema continued to fight Islamofascists alongside the Northern Alliance for two more years, and in that time earned considerable respect from the men he served with -- At the time of Jack and Brent's arrest in July 2004, Task Force Sabre 7 (Jack's team) included four Northern Alliance soldiers. Rather than identifying the men correctly (that is, by name and, where applicable, rank) the media referred to them simply as 'Afghans', implying, perhaps, that they were little more than Idema's hired-thugs.

This did the four -- Major Ezmerai, Lieutenant Wahid Rasuli 'Zorro', Syhail and Sherzai -- a great disservice.

All belonged to the Afghan faction loyal to Commander Ahmed Shah Massoud, the military genius who defeated the Soviets and led free Afghan forces against the Taliban. Although Commander Massoud was assassinated by terrorists two days prior to 9/11, his men continued to fight for a free Afghanistan. Here's Lieutenant ‘Zorro’ Wahid Rasuli, who was also part of Idema's team, talking about his beliefs and honour code:

If someone thinks about his life so he just cares about his personal life that is one thing, but if someone think about the peoples' life it means he would care about his country's improvement, being comfortable, being safe in dangerous time— that is better. This is the way Commander Massoud was thinking.

I remember that day, which is when Commander Massoud said to the world, "Wake up world, wake up from this long sleep and do not dream more, because these terrorists are not just my enemy, they are my country's enemy, indeed they are the world's enemy and they are the humans right's enemy."

The God forgive him, he tried and repeated more but no one heard the courage in his voice, no one. Until these terrorists destroyed even more countries and finally every one understood and found out, yeah, Commander Massoud was right. I'm the member who follow his way, I have dedicated my life to follow the way of Massoud because to save the world, my country, my family and so myself. The truth never be covered.

One day the truth will be like a mirror opposite the people's eyes, and every one will know that for sure. They will know what really happened and the true color of the terrorists and those Taliban who hide their dark heart and infiltrate back into our government.

Money, Power, Kissing ass and lies, all these would be for a short time but loyalty, truth, being honest never and everything falls down and it would set inside the people's heart forever.

For Zorro, and men like him, these aren't just words. During Jack's first trial, Zorro's 'ex'-Taliban guards forced him to spend a month in painful leg-restraints after he informed Idema that the court-appointed translator was failing to translate the Americans prisoners' words correctly.

Even more remarkable, after the four Afghan members of Task Force Sabre 7 were released on appeal, Zorro refused to leave Jack's side -- He remained in prison with Jack even though he was free to leave Pulacharke at any time.

Two things should be clear from this:

• That the men Jack and Brent fought alongside are men of honour in the truest sense, and not the anonymous thugs they were portrayed as by the majority of MSM.
• That, since loyalty rarely runs only one way, it should by apparent that Jack and Brent must also possess the very bravery, honour and integrity they inspired in others.

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.

Technorati tags: jack idema, afghanistan and Technorati Search for Jack Idema.

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 And Rightly So!.

Free Jack Idema Blogburst: 1/31/2007

One aspect in the case of illegally-imprisoned US Special Forces soldier Jack Idema that bears looking at in detail is the work he was doing in Afghanistan in the weeks prior to his arrest.

To listen to the way the media, Karzai and the US State Department tell it, you could be forgiven for thinking that Jack and his men were just trawling Afghanistan for people they suspected of links to terrorism in a quite random fashion; that they were common bounty hunters and their operation was amateurish. In fact, Task Force Sabre 7 (Jack's team) were highly-professional, and focussed on preventing a group of Islamofascists from carrying out a series of devastating attacks.

The following is from a press release Jack handed to the media at his August-September 2004 'trial.' Although it fully explains his team's mission and its importance, no one in MSM ran the story:

After contacting the Pentagon, we acted immediately by deploying to Afghanistan where, working with our former Northern Alliance allies, we captured first Ghulamsaki, the terrorist the FBI was informed of previously, and subsequently captured 95% of the entire al-Qaida and Hezb-i-Islami terrorist operation cell behind the plot. In four different operations and raids, we captured terrorists, explosives, detonators, and vehicles that were to be used in the terrorist plot.

The plot involved the assassination of the Afghan President, Minister of Defense, Minister of Educations, two ambassadors and the leaders of Massoud’s Jamiat Party. Had any one of them been successful, it would have resulted in certain civil war and the deaths of untold Afghan and American lives.

Alongside these assassinations, the terrorist cell Idema was hunting also had big plans when it came to the US troops stationed at Bagram Airbase -- Their intention was to turn one of the daily fuel deliveries (that is, four tankers laden with gasoline) into huge firebombs. Here's Jack's description of this planned-attack:

Think about this: Four fuel tankers driving into Bagram Air Base (fuel tankers daily arrive at Bagram) laden with gas and explosives as they passed through the gates. The explosives would never be discovered as the terrorists were using a combination of plastic explosives and incendiary explosives which American bomb dogs could not detect.

The result would have been flaming bodies of hundreds of American soldiers in a scene that would have dwarfed the Beirut Marine barracks bombing and brought back the vision of burning victims plunging to their deaths on 9/11.

My President said, after September 2001, that all Americans were now soldiers in the war on terror. He called upon each of us to do whatever we could to stop terror and save American lives. I have done that.

For his trouble, Jack Idema was falsely accused, arrested, tortured, show-trialed and illegally-imprisoned. We need to bring this man home. Now.

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.

Technorati tags: jack idema, afghanistan and Technorati Search for Jack Idema.

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 And Rightly So!

Free Jack Idema Blogburst: 1/24/2007

One of the strangest aspects of the story of illegally-imprisoned US Special Forces soldier Jack Idema is his bizarre treatment at the hands of MSM.

Indeed, for anyone currently searching internet archives for information on this case, the 'Idema' presented to them will, invariably, be this one

The colourful Idema - sunglasses on in court as always - insisted again he was on an anti-terrorist mission approved by the Pentagon and the Afghan government.
[...]
But there will be many in both governments who will be breathing a sigh of relief that for the moment, the case is over - and out of the public eye. It has proved embarrassing for them, because of a drip feed of revelations.

What we have here, then, is Jack as 'colourful' rogue, Jack as fantasist, Jack as crook. Almost without exception, such unfair and derogatory descriptions of Idema are the only ones available from mainstream outlets. And, almost without exception, all mention of Idema starts with his arrest in July 2004. Looking at this material, a person could, in fact, be forgiven for thinking that no journalist had ever heard of Jack until that point.

This just isn't true.

In reality, Jack and his team's activities received extensive coverage in the media from September 2001 onwards. Here's a sample of this, which is archived (along with many, many others) over at SuperPatriots:

On the rocky hilltops overlooking the earthquake-battered villages there were hundreds still hoping for help, still praying, and still untreated days after the powerful earthquake levelled the area.

Untreated, that is, until Jack showed up.

Coalition Forces may not be able to reach the injured, and German military forces had to turn back at the base of one mountain due to security concerns, but this American doesn't seem to have a problem.

On Saturday, wearing a khaki-and-brown, U.S. flag patch on his shoulder, sporting a beard and carrying an assault rifle and pistols, Jack continued his own one-man mission to help those hurt in the quake that struck this area of northern Afghanistan a week ago - and in particular find all of its neglected victims: women and children.

This story originally appeared after the Nahrin earthquake, on April 2nd, 2002, and is interesting because it shows how Jack and his team were presented in a heroic light by MSM when it suited their purpose to do so.

Only, here's the thing: Jack and Brent's arrest in 2004 presented the media with an opportunity to repeat Taliban-manufactured lies about how Jack had kidnapped and tortured Afghan prisoners by hanging them from the walls of his (non-existent) basement -- For the average lefty-journalist this story must have been very tempting indeed.

Except. What to do about all those other stories, the ones which truthfully portrayed Idema as the kind of hero who hunts terrorists and saves women and children under fire? After all, MSM's post-2004 'version' of Jack Idema clearly wouldn't stand up to scrutiny if all those earlier stories were around to contradict it.

It's at this point that the media should have just done their jobs, asking serious questions about the truthfulness of the allegations against Jack and his team, and helping to clear their names. Instead, the media elected to erase virtually all pre-2004 stories about Idema from their servers, pretend they were unaware of his presence in Afghanistan prior to his arrest, then run the (to them) far more attractive story of the US 'torturer' put on trial by those he'd tormented.

To see how effective (and systematic) this 'scrubbing out' of the truth about Jack actually is, simply try clicking any of the links to pre-2004 Idema stories on the SuperPatriots In almost all instances, the result is the same as this from
Britain's href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-1626829,00.html">Guardian

Go to 'Everyone in the dock' in Kabul trial, because the other link is not working.

It's in this way that the truth about a decent man has been buried in order to promote the lies that keep him imprisoned to this day.

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.

Technorati tags: jack idema, afghanistan and Technorati Search for Jack Idema

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 and Special/Blown-It.

Free Jack Idema Blogburst: 1/17/2007

Right now, illegally-imprisoned US Special Forces soldier Jack Idema is stuck inside one of the world's most infamous prisons, Pulacharke, for crimes he was cleared of committing two, full years ago. As for Jack's right-hand-man, Captain Brent Bennett remains in hiding, denied access to his own passport and the right to return home to the country he fought for. Brent is, in his own words, 'a man without a country'.

Meanwhile, under cover of darkness last Friday, a former Deputy Minister for the Taliban, Mullah Shahidkhel, was flown out of Pulacarke on President Karzai's orders. Shahidkhel, who no one doubts deserved to be imprisoned, was returned to his Taliban 'brothers'. He was personally greeted by Mullah Omah.

It will, perhaps, be instructive to compare and contrast the kind of men Karzai keeps imprisoned with those he chooses to release.

First, then, there's Jack Idema. Far from having committed any crimes whatsoever, Jack and his team spent the three years from 2001-2004 engaged in the following:

• Fighting terrorists alongside our allies in the Northern Alliance.
• Rescuing women and children from earthquake-hit areas.
• Hunting Bin Laden.
• Rescuing the President of Afghanistanís Ariana Airlines, Robullah Amain, from a rioting Islamist mob.
• Thwarting a terrorist plot to firebomb Bagram Airbase

So that's the guy who President Karzai and the US State Department illegally imprison -- What about the Taliban leader they choose to release? Well, from his time as one of the key Islamofascists running Afghanistan under the Taliban right up until the present day, Mullah Shahidkhel has been involved in the following, actual crimes:

• As the Deputy Minister [pdf] in the Taliban's Religious Education Ministry, Shahidkhel closed schools, burned schools, burned books, and had hundreds of teachers and lecturers working in non-religious fields hanged.
• Ordered the execution of scores of women who secretly educated their daughters.
• Was serving a 17-20 year sentence for murder and torture.
• While imprisoned, ordered yet more schools burned and teachers assassinated.
• Was facing fresh murder charges for his leadership role in the March 2006 riots at Pulacharke which left a dozen people dead

Something is going badly wrong in Afghanistan, and men like Jack Idema and Brent Bennett are paying the price. As for Mullah Shahidkhel, well, the only thing he'll be paying for in the near future is the gasoline he needs for burning more schools to the ground.

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.

Technorati tags: jack idema, afghanistan and Technorati Search for Jack Idema

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 and Special/Blown-It.