Jack Idema

Illegally-imprisoned US Special Forces Soldier Jack Idema’s struggle to wrest his own passport from the hands of his own Government continues. As the weeks drag by without this appalling situation getting any nearer resolution, it really is worth considering the difference between the behaviour of the State Department’s little, trained minions and that of Jack’s allies in the Northern Alliance.

As regular readers will doubtless recall, Jack’s search for justice has spilled out into the US courtroom of Judge Emmet G. Sullivan. Last time around, we concerned ourselves with the frankly laughable attempts of the State Department to explain why Jack was occupying a wing of Afghanistan’s highest-security prison six months after his ‘official’ release. In whatever alternate-reality State Department drones inhabit, the most plausible-sounding explanation they could offer boiled-down to the bizarre assertion that no one in either the US or Afghan governments could simply put Jack on a plane.

Certainly, there’s a vein of black-comedy running through all this. Only, here’s the thing: While State Department officials treat the illegal-imprisonment, torture and attempted murder of their countrymen as a laughing matter, many decent Afghans don’t seem to get the joke:

My name is Abdul Latif. I am a citizen and resident of the Islamic State of Afghanistan. I read, write and speak Pashtu and Dari.
I have worked for different government ministry departments. I was also in the resistance against the Russians, the Taliban, and Al Qaida terrorists. I now work for the Ministry of Justice as the senior Block Commander of the most dangerous area of Pulacharke. After my good friend General Sherzaman was killed protecting Jack two years ago, I was chosen to protect Jack. I was block commander in that area until the riots last year, and then took over Block 2. I control about 10 Colonels and another 100 officers beneath them. I have 1460 prisoners under my control, many are very violent terrorists who have killed many people. They are not allowed to have any relation with me because they are very bad criminals. But I eat dinner with Jack many times, and I feel Jack, Brent and Wahid are very good men and very good friends. I always know they were innocent and I myself heard our highest judges say they were innocent to my face.

This comes from Abdul Latif’s affidavit to Judge Sullivan’s court, and, in these two paragraphs, he tells us everything we need to know about both his, and Jack’s, character. Let’s consider what he has to say.

Here is a man who has spent his entire life fighting ALL the right battles. When the Soviets invaded his homeland, he took up arms against what was then the second-mightiest army in the world. When the Taliban seized control of his country, he took up arms against them. And, when Al Qaida terrorists crawled into bed with the mullahs running pre-9/11 Afghanistan, Latif fought them as well.

Back in 2001, when US and British Special Forces (Jack Idema among them) entered Afghanistan, Abdul Latif and his comrades were hemmed into a tiny, northern province of their own country, fighting what had been a losing battle against the forces of Islamofascism ranged against them. And yet. Men like Abdul Latif still fought.

If this is the pedigree of the people who call Jack Idema ‘friend’, then what does that say about the quality of those who tortured and imprisoned him?

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 should also contact the following people and make your feelings known, especially to write letters of complaint about this despicable situation:

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

US Consul Edward Birsner- number yet unknown
US Embassy Translator Wahid - 011-93-70201902
US Embassy Asst Consul Bashir Momman- 011-93-70201923
US Consul (friend) Dawn Schrepel- 011-93-70201908 (Fired)

Ambassador Massoud Khalili
(wounded with Massoud)
(Great and Kind man)
Islamic State of Afghanistan
Embassy of Afghanistan
Ankara, Turkey

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.: (212) 972-2276 or 972-2277
Fax: (212) 972-9046

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

Senator Steven Saland (Jack’s Rep and Neighbor)
9 Jonathan Lane
Poughkeepsie, NY 12603

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 (Interested)
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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Causes of Interest
Stuck On Stupid
You Don’t Know Jack
Right Voices
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