Last week, I talked about the way in which the
September 2004 trial which landed U.S. Special Forces soldier Jack Idema and his men in prison was actually conducted by the very terrorists he'd spent three years hunting down.
But there's another side to the story of how
Jack,;
Brent; and
Ed; wound up in the infamous Pulacharke prison, and this involves elements within FBI and U.S. State Department, both of which have done everything within their power to hinder Jack Idema's efforts to gain his freedom.
Idema's problems, as those following this story know, appear to stem from his arrest of a senior Afghan judge, Sidiq, in July 2004. At this point in time, Jack was working with the Northern Alliance, operating a safe house where terror suspects could be held for interrogation prior to transfer to U.S. authorities. (There were fifty such safe houses in operation in Afghanistan, and their existence was not a secret from either the U.S. or Afghan authorities.) Although Idema knew the arrest of Sidiq might raise some eyebrows, he had good reason for believing the judge was a high-value suspect -- At the time of the arrest, Sidiq was found to be in possession of the following items:
- Photographs of Sidiq with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
- Bomb plans
- Explosive detonators
- al-Qaida and Hezb-i-Islami documents and recruiting cards
- A letter from Taliban leader Mullah Omar
Unfortunately for Idema, the arrest of Judge Sidiq seems to have prompted the Afghan interim government to move against Jack and his men. Sidiq was, after all, an important man, and his detention perhaps alarmed not only those 'ex'-Taliban who were now working with the interim government, but also those sections of the FBI and State Department who still cling to myths like 'containment' and 'realpolitik'.
Idema, it should go without saying, is very much the sort of man who believes that terrorists cannot be appeased or given settlements -- They must, he says, be captured or killed. This difference of opinion came to a head in
the following way: Instead of a "friendly meeting" the men were arrested at Kabul NDS Headquarters and turned over to former Taliban officials at NDS. When first "arrested," the men were placed in the NDS' underground torture chamber where Jack and Zorro were subjected to beatings until they were unconscious. Jack sustained a broken sternum, torn rotator cuffs, both eyes had detached retinas, etc. Major Ezmerai was electrocuted for days, and the screams could be heard throughout NDS. Syhail and Sherzai were beaten, threatened, and Sherzai finally drugged when he refused to sign a statement against Jack. Bennett was interrogated relentlessly, and threatened with death repeatedly shown a knife and told his ears and nose would be cut off. (To date Bennett has lost 8 teeth because of those beatings.) The torture was with the full knowledge and sanction of the FBI who were directing it, using the Afghans as proxies. FBI agents were at some points laughing about it in the hallway.
And yes, you read that correctly. After the arrest of Idema and his team, the FBI assisted 'former' Taliban guards in torturing American citizens and the Northern Alliance soldiers who fought with us to liberate Afghanistan.
The FBI's involvement didn't stop there:
On or about this time, NDS, acting with agents of the FBI [Unnamed Agents 2 & 3], and possibly Ingram [more on her later] herself, removed Bennett's and Idema's dog tags, removed the their Geneva Convention Identity Cards, and removed Idema and Bennett's U.S. passports. The FBI also removed crucial exculpatory evidence from NDS headquarters; including approximately 50 rolls of 35mm film, 200 videotapes, and 500 documents, many of which were official documents which were evidence of actual innocence.
This process of removing evidence of Idema's innocence continued even after the initial trial -- When Jack and his men were granted leave to appeal their sentences, more evidence was disappeared by the FBI.
Then there's the U.S. State Department, who have acted in a similarly illegal fashion throughout Idema's imprisonment:
Sandra Ingram, Acting US Consul, not only refused to acknowledge Idema's assertion [of his POW status], she refused to pass his request on to the appropriate authorities, and refused to provide him with a copy of the Geneva Conventions as required by law. Idema also asserted their POW status and right to protection to NDS, the FBI, and various Karzai officials. During a subsequent visit by Ingram, Idema put his request in writing and demanded she make an entry in her Embassy notebook (Ingram refused to sign a receipt for Idema's POW protected status request). Further, Ingram refused to forward this request to the Red Cross, stating her DOS bosses "ordered" her not to.
This sort of behaviour continues today, with U.S. authorities refusing to relay mail to Idema, Brent and Ed, and even going so far as to deny them access to food parcels, clean drinking water and medical supplies.
Why? There are two reasons:
- As stated above, there are those in the State Department, the FBI and the Karzai government who believe that the best way to deal with the Taliban is to incorporate them into the democratic process. To a very limited degree, this makes sense, though only if the Islamofascists are serious about renouncing violence. Judging by the bomb plans and detonators he was carrying at the time of his arrest, Sidiq clearly didn't get the memo on that one.
- There was Abu Ghraib. During the latter half of 2004, the people involved in Idema's arrest feared the U.S. would take a propaganda hit by refusing to pursue any allegations of torture by its forces, however baseless those allegations turned out to be. By allowing the Taliban to stage a show-trail and imprison Idema, it seems likely that people such as Consul Sandra Ingram felt they could earn Muslim goodwill and remove an obstacle to the political games they were playing with the Karzai government and its 'ex'-Taliban members at a single stroke.
It should go without saying that this is a shameful way for a Green Beret to be treated. After all, while the FBI and State Department in Afghanistan were playing politics, deciding on which Islamofascists it would be useful in the short term to ally themselves with, Jack was on a very different kind of mission. In
his own words: You can't fight terrorists with law enforcement and prosecution, Clinton tried that for eight years. You can't do it, they are animals– they are not human, just ask the families that lost their loved ones on 9/11. When the terrorists capture us they cut off our heads on television. When we capture them they complain that we don't let them p*ss for twelve hours. Well, sorry about that motherf*cker, you were about to drive explosive rigged gas tankers into Bagram and kill 500 American soldiers in a ball of flames. You should be glad I didn't defenestrate you. I believe that real Americans want real counter-terrorist operations, not bullsh*t press junkets and canned PR stories from PAOs that shot a gun once in their life on the basic training qualification range. I didn't start this f*cking war, not the one with bin laden, nor the one with the press, they started it, but I will finish it, or die in the process.
Just so.
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 Neuman6180 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
EmailSenator 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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One of the worst tragedies in the history of spaceflight occurred on January 27, 1967 when the crew of Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were killed in a fire in the Apollo Command Module during a preflight test at Cape Canaveral. They were training for the first crewed Apollo flight, an Earth orbiting mission scheduled to be launched on 21 February. They were taking part in a "plugs-out" test, in which the Command Module was mounted on the Saturn 1B on the launch pad just as it would be for the actual launch, but the Saturn 1B was not fueled. The plan was to go through an entire countdown sequence. 
