Free Jack Idema

The Free Jack Idema Blogburst

One aspect of the case of illegally-imprisoned Special Forces soldier Jack Idema
that I've stressed time and again is that the first 'trial', at which http://www.superpatriots.us/speakout/jackspeaks.htm
">Jack, http://www.superpatriots.us/speakout/brentspeaks.htm">
Brent and http://www.superpatriots.us/speakout/edspeaks.htm"> Ed were sentenced to
between eight and ten years in prison, was a complete travesty.

Of course, given the effeminate shrieking from human rights hustlers that accompanies
even the slightest deviation from due process, some people might conclude that Idema and
his men received a fair enough hearing, and that a kind of rough justice was done. This was
certainly the impression MSM were keen to convey in their coverage of the trial. Here's the
BBC, who seemed to find it http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3660962.stm">
all rather amusing:

There is no doubt that some hearings descended into almost comical chaos, with witnesses having stand-up rows with Idema and the other Americans. And the prosecution seemed to base most of its case on accusation rather than evidence. Translation was another problem - some of those chosen were not up to what was adifficult job.

... So what's it to be? The travesty the Free Jack campaign claim, or the somewhat rowdy, but
basically sound, trial MSM were witness to?

Well, a good place to begin putting our side of the story is with the trial judge, 'former' Taliban
member http://www.superpatriots.us/aboutthecase/thefirsttrial.htm">Abdul Baset
Bakhtyari:

The original motion, like all motions filed, was ignored by Bakhtyari, who claimed the Interim Criminal Code, was merely a guideline, not really law, and that the laws of his former Taliban government would be applicable.

That's not really a good start, is it? Because, as a generally-accepted rule, judges don't get to 
choose which legal system they're going to try a case under. More to the point, since Idema
and his men had spent the preceding three years hunting, capturing and killing members
of the Taliban, it seems almost laughable to suggest that Bakhtyari could have been viewed
as even remotely qualified to preside over the case. The phrase 'conflict of interest' doesn't
even begin to describe this situation.

So much for the judge. What about the prosecutor, Abdul Fatah? After all, it was his job to
assemble and present the case against Idema and his men -- Surely if this had been done in a
fair and even-handed manner, Judge Bakhtyari's scope for mischief would have been
severely curtailed?

Well, some hope. Prosecutor Fatah, you see, was an ex-KGB man, who'd worked for the
Soviets during their occupation of Afghanistan. Here's an example of how he conducted
the case against Jack and his men:

Then Fatah would pass the note up to prosecutor Dawari, who would then walk right up to the Judge's bench and hand it to him while Jack, or later, one of the attorneys, would be talking. Bakhtyari would then read the note, and make some wild ruling. Regardless of how many times the defense objected or yelled about the secret communications, Bakhtyari would just ignore the complaint.

... And so much for the prosecutor. What about a defence team? Well, although Idema and
his men finally managed to acquire a U.S. lawyer, John Tiffany, to represent them, the state
of play in the early stages of the trial was rather different:

Bennett finally got a female Afghan lawyer 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 would not allow her to speak because she was a woman, and 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 bemurdered.

Now, if the Islamofascist judge, the resentful, ex-KGB prosecutor and defence lawyers placed
under threat of death should they appear in court weren't enough, there's also the complete
lack of evidence against Idema and his men.

Let's be clear about this. I'm not saying the evidence presented by the prosecution was weak,
or flawed, or fell apart under cross-examination. The prosecution simply produced no
evidence against Jack Idema whatsoever. No photographs showing marks of the torture
Idema supposedly committed, no sworn-in witnesses. Nothing. Even more galling, when
Idema and his men attempted to present evidence that, in a normal courtroom, would have
cleared them, the following occurred:

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 defense had still not been allowed to call a single witness or ask a single question of anyof the terrorists who said the were hung upside down at the first "press conference" which Bakhtyari later called a hearing.

Let's put all of this together. Here we have a 'trial' in which:
The judge is a member of the terrorist organisation the defendants were
hunting
The judge threw out the law of the land and tried the case under a
completely different legal system
The prosecutor conferred with the judge, passing secret notes and
whispered advice to him
Lawyers for the defence were threatened with death if they appeared in
court
No evidence of any kind was offered by the prosecution in support of the
charges they brought against Idema and his men
The defence were never allowed to present any evidence or call any
witnesses
Question: What best describes the September 2004 trial? A shameful miscarriage of justice?
Or, as the BBC would have it, 'almost comical chaos'? The answer to this one should really
be a no-brainer.

So what can we do about this? Well, for bloggers, there's the weekly Free Jack Idema
Blogburst. We are still really, really, really desperate for more people to get involved with
this -- The only way we can help Jack, Brent and Ed is by getting the truth about the case
out to as many people as possible. Obviously, the more of us there are posting on this topic,
the greater chance there is that our voices will be heard.

Anyone wishing to sign up for the Free Jack Idema Blogburst should email
mailto:cao@superpatriots.us?subject=Free%20Jack%20Idema%20Blogburst"
>Cao or mailto:RottweilerPupUK@aol.com?subject=Free%20Jack%20Idema%20Blogburst"
>Rottweiler Puppy for details. 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.

You can also contact the following people and make your feelings known:

Secret US EMBASSY Fax: – 301-560-5729 (Local US Fax: Goes RIGHT TO Ambassador)
c/o US Ambassador Ronald Neuman
6180 Kabul Place
Dulles, VA  20189-6180

US Consul Russell Brown – 011-93-70201908 (Fired)

US Consul Addie Harchik- 011-93-70201908 (denied them water and mail at Thanksgiving)

US Embassy Translator Wahid – new – 011-93-70201902

US Embassy Translator Bashir Momman–  011-93-70201923

US Consul (friend of Jack's Now fired) Dawn Schrepel– 011-93-70201908

Embassy of Afghanistan (Good guys, Northern Alliance)
2341 Wyoming Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Ph: 202-483-6410, Fax: no. 202-483-6488

Ambassador Massoud Khalili (wounded with Massoud)
Islamic State of Afghanistan
Embassy of Afghanistan
New Delhi, India

H.E. Said Tayeb JAWAD (Afghan Ambassador- powerful in US)
Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington
2341 Wyoming Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008
Tel: (+1-202) 483 6414
Fax: (+1-202) 483 9523

Mr. Jahed Hamrah, Consul General (pro-Taliban)
CONSULATE GENERAL OF
AFGHANISTAN IN NEW YORK
360 Lexington Avenue,
11th Floor New York,
New, York, NY 10017
Tel.: (+1-212) 972 2276 or 972 2277
Fax: (+1-212) 972 9046

Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld                
Secretary of Defense                                   
1000 Defense Pentagon – Room # 3E880
Washington, DC 20301-1000
Ph: (703) 692-7100
Fax: (703) 697-9080

Lt General William Boykin                        
Deputy Undersecretary
of Defense for Intelligence
1800 Defense Pentagon – Room # 3E836
Washington, DC  20301
Ph: (703) 697-0170
Private Fax: (703) 697-9080

Stephen Cambone
Principle Deputy Secretary for Intelligence
1800 Defense Pentagon – Room # 3E
Washington, DC 20310-0100

General Peter J. Shoomaker
Chief of Staff, Department of the Army
200 Army Pentagon – Room # 3E528
Washington, DC 20310-0200
Ph: (703) 695-2077  / Fax: (703) 614-5268

The Honorable John D. Negroponte
Director National Intelligence
New Executive Office Building
725 17th Street, N.W., Room 4203
Washington, DC 20503

The Committee
On Homeland Security
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington,  DC 20515

Chairman Peter Hoekstra
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
H-405, U.S. Capitol
Washington, DC 20515-6415;
Office: (202) 225-4121 /  Fax: (202) 225-1991
Toll Free: (877) 858-9040

M. Cherif BASSIOUNI
Independent Expert of the Commission on Human Rights
On the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
UNOG-OHCHR
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Ph:+41(0)22 917 97 27 Fax:+41(0)22 917 90 18
mailto:jwillems@ohchr.org">Email Senator Steven Saland (Jack's Rep and Neighbor)
9 Jonathan Lane
Poughkeepsie, NY  12603

Senator Elizabeth Dole  (Jack's Rep)     
United States Senate
310 New Bern Avenue, Suite 122
Raleigh, NC  27601
Ph: 919.856.4630
Fax: 919.856.4053   

Senator Elizabeth Dole  (Jack's Rep)
United States Senate
555 Dirksen Office Building
Washington, DC  20510
Ph: 202.224.6342
Fax: 202.224.1100    

Senator Richard Burr (of Interest)
United States Senate
217 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC  20510
Phone: (202) 224-3154 / Fax: (202) 228-2981

Senator Bill Nelson (in the fight on Jack's Side)
United States Senate
Hart Senate Office Building
Room 716
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-5274  / Fax: 202-228-2183
FL Fax 407-872-7165

Senator Dianne Feinstein (Bennett's Representative)
United States Senate
Hart Office Building, Room 331
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3841

Representative Mike McIntyre (Jack's Representative)
United States Congress
2437 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC  20515
Phone: (202) 225-2731 / Fax (202) 225-5773

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (reference Captain Bennett- CA citizen)
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841 / Fax: 916-445-4633

Finally, PLEASE NOTE: The http://www.superpatriots.us/">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 http://www.superpatriots.us/">SuperPatriots.US

jack idema
afghanistan
Technorati Search for Jack
Idema

The Free Jack Idema Blogroll:

The Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill
The Lone Voice
Red Hot Cuppa Politics
Kender's Musings
Irate Nate
The Devil's Kitchen
Cao's Blog
Big Dog's Weblog
Theodore's World
NIF
Rottweiler Puppy
Making Headlines
My Newz n' Ideas
Right For Scotland
Freedom Folks
The City Troll

.