Jack Idema

Each time I write about the plight of Jack Idema, the U.S. Special Forces soldier illegally imprisoned in Afghanistan along with his right-hand man, Brent Bennet, and Emmy award-winning journalist, Ed Caraballo, I'm conscious that I haven't really talked, in detail, about Jack's relationship with the Afghan troops he trained and fought alongside. There are two, conflicting, accounts of Jack's involvement with the Afghan military:

• The official line is that Idema was a freelancer; a mercenary hunting Islamopaths for the bounties on their heads who had no official standing in either the U.S. or Afghan military. This was the U.S. Government's position at the time of Idema's first trial in September 2004. It was also the positionof the Karzai government in Afghanistan.
• Jack Idema, of course, tells a very different story, stating that he was working as a military advisor to the Northern Alliance, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with these men as they hunteddown Islamopaths, not for reward money, but out of patriotism.

Clearly, both these accounts can't be correct. And, clearly, war-zones around the world
are filled with various adventurers, mercenaries and bounty hunters.

This is the reason why MSM's claims to have never heard of Idema prior to his arrest in 2004 are so damaging -- They add credence to the U.S. and Afghan governments' assertion that Jack was a rogue-operator, and, effectively, deflect interest from the case. After all, there's a big difference between imprisoning a mercenary serving himself and imprisoning a U.S. soldier serving his country.

It's for this reason those of us involved in the campaign to see justice done in this case are so keen to stress both Jack's past military record and the duplicitous nature of big media, which first reported on the work Idema was doing in Afghanistan, then denied all knowledge of him a year later.

To settle this, however, the Free Jack campaign doesn't have to rely on self-serving journalists and government mouthpieces -- We can actually call on the testimony of people Jack Idema fought alongside in the battle to rid Afghanistan of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. These are the men of the Northern Alliance (properly, the United Front), and to understand how they fit into Jack Idema's story, it's necessary to understand a little of their long and honourable history defending Afghanistan from Her enemies.

Much of this success can be attributed to one person, Commander Ahmad Shah Massoud. Though sneeringly described as a 'warlord' by MSM, Massoud was actually a highly educated and moderate man who believed passionately that the future of Afghanistan should be both democratic and free of fanaticism. Fortunately for the Afghan people, Massoud was also a military genius, responsible for inflicting a staggering 60% of the total casualties suffered by the Red Army during the Soviet occupation.

After the Russians were expelled, Massoud set up democratic rule in the regions of Afghanistan his forces controlled, spending the remaining years of his life struggling to remove first the murderous Hekmatyar, then the Taliban, from power.

You can read about Massoud's life here, but what must be understood about this remarkable man is that he, as well as those who followed him, are exactly the kind of people we need on our side in the WOT.

Here's Massoud on democracy:

The future government should be formed
through elections by the people. Men and women should take part. The only form
of government, which can balance the different ethnicities, is democracy.

And, again, here's Massoud's reaction to the Taliban's demand that he leave Afghanistan after they seized power:

Is it just that when we were in Kabul leading the country, when we had the people's
consent, we promised to protect them, to defend our independence and to take
care of Afghanistan and its people and now that these people are in great danger
we would leave them? Is this really justice? I do not think it is justified. I will stay in this country until my last breath and resist. I am convinced that, God willing, Afghanistan one day will be free.

Commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Lion of Panjsher, was assassinated by al-Qaeda
suicide bombers on 9th September, 2001. Two weeks after that Jack Idema arrived in Afghanistan. He, and hundreds of other Special Forces soldiers, were under orders from coalition leaders to train and equip Northern Alliance forces in order to remove the Taliban. This, of course, was exactly the sort of work that Idema specialised in -- After stints
in Haiti, El Salvador, Thailand and Lithuania, he was one of the most capable men in the world at pulling ragged, ill-equipped armies together into crack fighting units. You can read press reports archived at SuperPatriots which detail some of the work Jack did with the Northern Alliance here, here, and here, but this is only part of the story.

See, although MSM were chiefly interested in Idema during 2001, the Northern Alliance troops he trained and served alongside for three years deserve a hearing too. They're brave soldiers, most of whom have spent their whole adult lives fighting for a free and democratic Afghanistan. What's more, several of them were tortured, tried and imprisoned alongside Jack, Brent and Ed in September 2004.

One of these men, Major Ezmerai Amin, has this to say about Idema and the state of Afghanistan under Karzai:Commander Massoud was right. But Massoud told us to follow his way, and I have dedicate my life to follow the way of Massoudbecause to save my country and the world. And my commander has too. This is why our people follow Jack, because he follow Massoud's way. One time when Iwas still in Pulacharke I was very sad, and I said to Jack, fuck Massoud,because we follow Massoud's way we are in prison. Then Jack remind to me that

Massoud would never give up, he would keep to fight to make real freedom not freedom only for the rich people. We talked about how Massoud would not allow a
road to be built to his village until all the country had roads. But this government, they buy rich cars and build roads to their villages while people are still starving and with no doctors.

Major Amin, like the other Afghans imprisoned with Jack, was released after their case went to appeal a year ago -- Jack, Brent and Ed should have been freed at that point too, but the
U.S. State Department and FBI put pressure on the Karzai government to illegally continue their detention. What's worth noting, though, is that Major Amin pays Jack Idema the highest complement he can -- He compares him to Massoud, modern Afghanistan's greatest hero.
Then there's Lieutenant 'Zorro' Rasuli:

Actually, Jack took me with him for just one month from General Atta, but I don't know why he trust his life, his power, and everything on me, but I can say one thing; after the death of our leader Commander Massoud he will now be my commander on the rest of my life, and in any place I'm waitingfor his orders.

Zorro means this. After he was released along with the other Afghans convicted with Idema, he elected to remain in prison until his three American compatriots are free.

So, question: if Idema were nothing more than a mercenary out to make a quick buck, why is it that he inspires such loyalty among Northern Alliance troops? The answer to this one should be obvious -- The Afghan soldiers Idema trained and fought with see, in him, a similar commitment to rid the world of terrorism as the one they feel.

Here's New Yorker writer, Jon Lee Anderson, offering us an insight into how this camaraderie played out during the war to remove the Taliban from power:

On the way down the mountain, Jack, who was armed and wearing full combat regalia,clambered onto one of the mujahideen tanks with a tin of white paint and a brush. He wrote, "N.Y.P.D." on the tank's green steel carapace. The mujahideen smiled obligingly and asked to borrow his paint. In lacy Farsi script they added the words "Dear Massoud, we will follow your way."

Right now, three of men who fought that war are stuck in prison at the behest of the State Department. Meanwhile, just this week, President Karzai begged Taliban scumbag-in-chief Mullah Omar to 'get in touch if he wanted peace'.

It's difficult, not to conclude that something's going badly wrong with a war in which we offer amnesty to the chief architects of 9/11, while imprisoning the men who risked their lives to bring these animals to justice.

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.

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
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 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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Tip leads to four captured AIF

TIKRIT, Iraq – A tip from citizens led Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division and 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division to four individuals suspected of attacking troops near Hawija the morning of Jan. 11.

Coalition forces cordoned off an area southeast of Hawija while the Iraqi Soldiers searched for several individuals who were reportedly behind sniper attacks in the region.

Four men were picked up along with two AK-47 assault rifles and ammunition, eight different identification cards, a pair of binoculars and several forms of AIF propaganda.

The men were detained for interviews.

Fallout from the Tehranhattan Project

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