State Dept. still lying about Jack and circumstances

Is Jack Idema Free? Shamefully, No.

Two weeks ago, and one week after the news that Afghanistan had finally released Jack Idema, we re-named this blogburst Justice For Jack Idema. On the strength of today's revelations, perhaps that move was premature:

Is Jack Idema still at Pulacharke? Yes. Is he being held there by the Afghans? No. Is he being held by the American government against his will? Yes. And that’s why the habeas corpus petition was filed to begin with; to find out why he is being held there. In response, the American government provides Soviet-style smoke and mirrors.

Why would the US Government act this way? Why not simply allow Jack Idema to walk out of Pulacharke? The answer can only be that if Jack managed to return to the US, he would be able to testify against the people who have put him through hell for the past three years. It's easier for the State Department to keep Jack bottled-up in his cell.

Here, as stated today in Jack's submission to the US District Court of Columbia, is the current situation this soldier finds himself in:

1. Jack Idema has been without power for five weeks now living in the dark.
   
   
2. Jack Idema has been without power or lights for more than 170 days in the past two and a half years.
   
   
3. Jack Idema has been without running water for just under 3 years. (Water is carried daily by pail from stream water which goes through a storage drum.) He has not had hot water in almost three years or medical care of any kind in almost three years.
   
   
4. Jack Idema, under constant threat of forced transfer to Saderat Interrogation Facility and renewed torture, has not left his barricade position for 7 months, (with the exceptions in his affidavit).
   
   
5. Jack Idema has been without mail for two and half years. An embargo imposed solely by the US Embassy (but just days after this Court's March ______ Order, the US Embassy delivered to Jack Idema personal mail for the first time in years. The letter, and care package of food from a Marine in the Midwest -- Exhibit _____). We estimate, that more than 4000 letters and care packages have been returned to their senders at taxpayer expense, solely for retaliatory and vicious purposes to impose a brutal existence on these men.
   
   
6. Jack Idema has been without a single foreign visitor allowed in since the attack on Bennett, because the Pulacharke Gate, outside the prison, at the town, is controlled by forces under the US Embassy's control. Afghan visitors get in by saying they are visiting their relatives or an officer; then tell the inside prison gates they are visiting Jack, and get right in. Obviously it is NOT the prison or the Ministry of Justice stopping his visitors.
   
   
7. Jack Idema lives under daily threat, a very real threat, of being attacked with violent force, by not only the terrorists surrounding him, but by the US Embassy and Karzai controlled factions which answer to the Embassy, and then taken to the NDS Saderat Interrogation facility where neither this Court nor counsel will hear from him again for a very long time, if ever.
   
   
8. Jack Idema and Brent Bennett are being forced through a wide variety of methods, to forfeit all of their property; property which he has defended with his life. He is being forced, through the withholding of his passport and continued incarceration, to allow its search and seizure by US officials. Although this might change the dynamics and ADD claims to the habeas corpus claim of wrongful property it CERTAINLY does not defeat the habeas corpus or render it moot, if anything, it makes it clear that the government Respondents must be forced to answer and forced quickly.
   
   
9. The Petitioners' exculpatory evidence is not just being held anymore, now it is to be permanently forfeited, most likely destroyed or placed in black hole at the FBI, and forever lost (just like Idema's passport, which the US government has claimed was lost for 3 years, yet Jack Idema located it within a few days by phone.) Without their exculpatory evidence Jack Idema and Brent Bennett face a long list of possible crimes, all of which would be swiftly defeated with the evidence, and this is not speculation, these are criminal charges which are a real and present threat, as proven by a Grand Jury investigation started just days after this Court issued it's opinion. Therefore, not only is the habeas corpus far from moot, because it seeks the return of exculpatory evidence it is even more important now, and more time sensitive. Idema and Bennett are being prevented from retaining evidence that will clear them of all allegations, past, present, and future. Jack Idema has repeatedly offered to testify at a Grand Jury, and just weeks ago, we presented a letter to the Grand Jury foreman in North Carolina demanding to testify and present evidence, evidence which Respondents NEVER want to see the light of day.
   
   
10. The government motion and supporting affidavit is just smoke and mirrors to redirect this Honorable Court's attention and make it appear as though Idema is free to go as he pleases. This is simply not the case.

And in a final, sickening, twist of the knife, the State Department have informed Jack Idema of the following:

Idema had been repeatedly warned that any attempt to cross borders would be a violation of the Patriot Act, even if it was just to come home to the United States.

Think about that. Here is a Green Beret, illegally-imprisoned for three years, tortured, subjected to a show-trial, forced to fend-off more than a dozen assassination attempts -- Here is a man who, having endured all of this, is now being told that if he somehow manages to reach the border of his homeland, he will be arrested under the very laws which were put in place to apprehend the terrorists he left America's shores to do battle against.

How on earth did we come to this?

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.

Justice for Jack Idema Blogroll:
The Lone Voice, Kender's Musings, Cao's Blog, Rottweiler Puppy, Causes of Interest, Stuck On Stupid, You Don't Know Jack, Right Voices, Causal Nexus, A Real Man and GM's Corner.

Justice for Jack Idema Blogburst 4/25/2007

Hi. As I told you last week, we have now changed the blogburst to, "Justice for Jack Idema Blogburst." That is because there has not been any justice in this shameful action of our government.

It's been over two weeks since the news broke that US Special Forces soldier Jack Idema has been released from nearly three years of illegal-detention in an Afghanistan prison filled with Taliban prisoners. Anyone hoping this event would mean Jack could finally return home to the US, however, is likely to be disappointed.

This is quite true. I am not only disappointed, I am angry. We are treating these terrorists with kid's gloves, while we treating our own with extreme prejudice. When we go to war, we go to kill. What the hell do they think is going to happen? We did not send our men to play patty-cakes! (Haditha)

As we learned from Jack's Afghan lawyer, Rahim Ahmadzai, last week, the US State Department is doing everything in its power to prevent Idema from leaving the country:

The United States Embassy has since blocked the return of Jack Idema’s original passport, which is prima facie evidence of his innocence on several of the accusations made. Additionally, the United States Embassy has blocked the return of Jack Idema’s documents and property from the National Security Directorate (NDS).

In spite of these difficulties, Jack remains optimistic that he will be able to get out of Afghanistan at some point in the next few weeks. What's less certain is the fate that awaits him when he does.

Since when does the State Department get a say in what happens during war? Are they not the department that always wants to talk? I AM THROUGH TALKING TO TERRORISTS!

See, the State Department's refusal to hand over Jack's passport is disturbingly reminiscent of their behaviour toward Captain Brent Bennett upon his 'release' last October. Back then, of course, Brent was the one on the receiving end of the State Department's passport-fixation. On route to an unspecified destination (and still officially 'in custody') Brent managed to persuade airport authorities in a neutral country that his captors had no right to keep him handcuffed and without his documents. He was issued a temporary passport and fled. As of now, he is still unable to return to the US and is, in his own words, a 'man without a country'.

I see. So if you go after the enemy, you are more evil than enemy you are supposed to kill? The enemy you are getting PAID to kill? That is why I hate the State Department. Another reason being that they brokered a deal so that they could have Sharia Law in Afghanistan! What the hell? After we kicked Japan's ass, WE wrote their constitution for them. That is why we must except nothing less than total victory. Screw world opinion.

Although Jack's position as a free man is certainly more secure than was Brent's at that time, it remains to be seen if he will ultimately join his second-in-command in a state of forced ex-patriation. So that's one thing.

Another is Jack and Brent's need for justice. Here are two men who are completely guiltless who have been tortured and illegally-imprisoned for more than two years by agents of their own State Department. Finally that same State Department was forced to release them from captivity. It cannot, must not, be the right of the State Department officials to do this. They must be held responsible and not allowed to walk away from the Idema case without ever being forced to account for their actions.

There must be redress -- Not just for Jack and Brent's sake, but so that the message is heard loud and clear that no one serving our country with honour can be used as a political pawn to then be discarded.

Jack and Brent may be free, but the fight to clear their names must continue.

That is exactly correct. This is an outrageous act by our government, I don't care which side of the aisle you are upon which you stand. If you cannot see the injustice in this, your 'causes' are selfish and mean nothing. Only because you do not really believe in what you are professing. The cause itself may be worthy, but you are not. Be gone.

So what can we do? Well, anyone reading this with their own blog can sign up for the weekly Justice For 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 Lone Voice, Kender's Musings, Cao's Blog, Rottweiler Puppy, Causes of Interest, Stuck On Stupid, You Don't Know Jack, Right Voices, Causal Nexus and A Real Man.

Listen to this podcast.

Please excuse my choice of words. I know you are not used to hearing this type of language here. I am just so upset over this (or any) injustice. It must not stand.