From their new album, Stuck Mojo comes out of the box with a political statement that is blowing the socks off the jihadis on Youtube, it is that popular. Unfortunately, Youtube is run by terrorist sympathizers who are using Orwellian methods to curb free speech; this video has achieved Youtube awards for popularity and viewing-it's spreading like wildfire in spite of Youtube's efforts to keep it hidden.
The Free Jack Idema Blogburst One aspect of the case of illegally-imprisoned U.S. Special Forces soldier Jack Idema that is always worth re-visiting is the horrendous treatment he and his men were subjected to after their arrest.
While Jack and his team (operating one of fifty-or-so similar SF safe-houses in Afghanistan) have been proven to have tortured no one, during the month of July 2004, Jack was beaten so badly by his pro-Taliban interrogators that he suffered the following injuries:
Shown a knife and threatened with death on numerous occasions
Told his nose and ears would be cut-off if he failed to co-operate
Major Ezmerai, 'Zorro', Syhail and Sherzai (the Northern Alliance officers and men on Jack's team), were subjected to:
Beatings
Electrocution
Scalding with boiling water
Death threats
Phalanga (where the bare feet are tied to a pole and hit with rods)
Torture with live scorpions
Starvation
Attempted rape
While these tortures were conducted by pro-Taliban officials at the NDS Headquarters in Kabal, they happened with the full knowledge of the U.S. State Department.
On July 11th 2004, Jack Idema contacted his embassy and claimed Prisoner of War status. His request was turned down by Sandra Ingram, Acting US Consul, who also refused to give Idema a copy of the Geneva Convention.
Visiting a second time (and after Jack managed to put his request for PoW status in writing), Ingram refused to either accept the document or pass it on to the Red Cross, claiming her State Department superiors 'ordered her not to do this'. Most disturbing of all, perhaps, Ingram (assisted by the FBI) also removed Jack and Brent's dog tags, Geneva Convention I.D. cards, and their U.S. passports.
During both of Ingram's visits to Jack and Brent during July 2004, it would have been quite obvious that both men had been badly beaten. Far from offering assistance to them, the U.S. State Department (along with the FBI, who also removed documents and videotapes seized by the NDS after Jack's arrest) moved to confiscate any and all means Jack and Brent had to prove either their innocence or the legitimacy of their mission in Afghanistan.
In the light of these facts, it's easy to see why the State Department continue to obstruct Jack's release -- These people have one hell of a lot of questions to answer.
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 Russell Brown - 011-93-70201908 (Fired)
US Consul Addie Harchik- 011-93-70201908 (denied them water and mail at Thanksgiving- Gone)
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 H.E.
Said Tayeb JAWAD (Afghan Ambassador- powerful in US) (Northern Alliance Good Guy Fired- New Pro Taliban Ambassador) Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington 2341 Wyoming Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20008 Tel: (202) 483-6414 Fax: (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.: (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:
A muslim buys land next to a pig farm in Katy,Texas. The pig farm wasn't a secret, he knew it was there. Muslim has plans to build a mosque there even though there are over 60 mosques in the area. Once he got ownership of the land, the muslim demands that the pig farm owner either move his farm, or get rid of his pigs. The pig farmer has offered to buy the land from the muslim, but the muslim refuses.
So the pig farmer scheduled pig races during Friday prayers.
See the video here trot over to Stop the Aclu, or go over to Ms U.
The story of Ashley, a 9-year-old disabled girl, who cannot move and usually stays in the same position she is placed in, on a pillow. What's at issue is her doctor recommended 'treatment', which includes a series of surgical operations (including a hysterectomy) and a regimen of hormones that will keep her small. Her parents, two college-educated professionals, have chosen to remain anonymous. Perhaps this is a good thing; because as the news of the 'treatment' are hitting the airwaves, people are upset.
She was diagnosed, they explain, with brain damage with unknown causes just after birth and has remained at the same developmental level since about three months. Three years ago she began to show early signs of puberty, and they grew anxious about the impact of fertility and of her rapidly increasing size and weight on the quality of her life. In discussions with doctors at Seattle Children's hospital they devised the treatment: removal of Ashley's uterus to prevent fertility, excision of early buds on her chest so that she would not develop breasts, and medication with high doses of oestrogen to limit her growth by prematurely fusing the growth plates of her bones.
The parents insist that the treatment, carried out in 2004, was conceived for Ashley's benefit and not their own ease or convenience. With a lighter body and no breasts, Ashley will have fewer bed sores and lie more comfortably. And a smaller Ashley can be cared for and carried. "As a result we will continue to delight in holding her in our arms and Ashley will be moved and taken on trips more frequently instead of lying in her bed staring at TV or the ceiling all day long," they write.
But as news about the treatment became known, Ashley's parents were surprised by the virulence of some of the response. Comments on chatboards have included: "Ouch - this smacks of eugenics"; "I find this offensive, truly a milestone in our convenience society"; "This smells, I can't agree with this".
But most of you know about my main blog. Tblog was just a temporary distraction, and that's where I ran across Dianne Maire and her frenchie husband Phillipe, so my stint here was very enjoyable as I confronted their lies head on.
I started tblog while my site was being designed and my blogspot blog was taken over by the design company. I couldn't resist; I'd been taken over by the blogging addiction and needed to put my thoughts down somewhere while the main blog was going through a redesign.
So I will make an attempt to catch up a little bit here, as I do appreciate the opportunity to spit on the leftists who have completely taken over tblog and made it an enclave of sniveling leftists with droolbibs.
Pictures and documented evidence of Jack's history with special forces
Idema with his Special Forces Mountain Team- “Rear Base Radio Operators” don’t do this- they sit in a radio room copying code. Idema is the first Green Beret on the lower left. On the right is Francis McCabe, a highly regarded SF hero in Vietnam.
The naysayers are saying that all the evidence and the old pictures including the redacted diplomas like this one, were “manufacturered” and the reason you can’t see the signatures and so on is that they’re frauds. Have you ever seen a photoshop of an old picture? Doesn’t work out very well. So…GIVE ME A BREAK.
Idema’s Special Forces Force Qualification Diploma awarded to him By Colonel Charlie Beckwith and General Robert Kingston. Bergen wasn’t the only journalist that had this. It is highly redacted to prevent real wannabes from copying a real diploma.
Colonel Charlie Beckwith passed away in 1985, but he and Jack remained close friends until his death.
If a guy wants to wear the green beret of the Green Berets, it takes more than the ability to do hundreds of push-ups. To make it in the special forces of any branch of the U.S. military, you need intelligence, an outstanding record of prior military service (at least three years), and high motivation — very high.
Idema has broken so many records, in Special Forces, that’s just one of the many things which makes him a virtual legend in these circles.
Each SF volunteer will receive extensive training in a specialty that prepares him for his future assignment in an SF unit. SF units are designed to operate either unilaterally or in support of and combined with native military and paramilitary forces. Levels of employment for Special Operations forces include advising and assisting host governments, involvement in continental United States-based training, and direct participation in combat operations.
The Special Forces Qualification Course teaches and develops the skills necessary for effective utilization of the SF solider. Duties in CMF 18 primarily involve participation in Special Operations interrelated fields of unconventional warfare. These include foreign internal defense and direct action missions as part of a small operations team or detachment. Duties at other levels involve command, control, and support functions. Frequently, duties require regional orientation to include foreign language training and in-country experience. SF places emphasis not only on unconventional tactics, but also on knowledge of nations in waterborne, desert, jungle, mountain, or arctic operations (see picture above).
How many more insults does this man have to endure from lying cretins who are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to destroy people? Already, they’ve not only threatened, but they’ve been digging for things not only on me, but on others to “expose” them. Expose what? And excuse me, but what does this have to do with the Jack Idema story?
On Unmotivated and Unprofessional:
A. Jack Idema was an Honor Graduate in his 1975 Special Forces Communications Course- and received a letter of commendation from the commander (Idema’s final score was a perfect 100).
B. He was the Distinguished Graduate in Phase I of his Special Forces Course. He was one of only 16 to graduate out of a class of 1250 Airborne and Ranger qualified soldiers to start selection. He set eleven records Light Weapons Records in his Phase II Special Forces Light & Heavy Weapons Course. According to the Chief of the SF Weapons office at least three records still stood in 2004 (just shy of 30 years later).
C. In 1976, according to official records at JFKSWC (JFKCENMA/JFKSWCS) he was chosen to participate in the most elite course in the Army; the Special Weapons and Hand to Hand Combat Instructor School.
D. Within six months Idema was qualified as the youngest instructor ever, and one of only 11 (there were 44 total in all service branches and combined Special Ops units)
E. In November 1976 he was chosen to go to USAJFKSWC-SFUWOC, the Army’s “Navy SEAL” Course. He broke two swimming records - You can call the school HQs to confirm this- We heard this from a former commander there.
F. Over the next five years he went to various NATO schools, including German Mountain Climbing, Ski School, City Warfare School, and was on the Special Forces Pistol Team where he competed at the Camp Perry National Matches, ranking 6th in all combined services on his first attempt. Thousands of the best shooters in the world compete. He also competed at the Secret Service matches and shot a “possible” (a perfect 100) at the NA Day FBI matches at Camp Peekskill (a “possible” means your target is sent to Quantico to placed in the running for the FBI’s highest score/champion for the year, NA means National Academy). Most FBI agents dream of doing that– very few ever do in their entire career.
G. He went to the top secret SWC (different from Special Warfare Center above- it stands for Special Weapons Course- and we can’t even hint at what that was on this website).
H. In 1985 he graduated the US Army Special Forces Jumpmaster Course. But according to the press he wasn’t even in the Army then.
I. Idema graduated the Special Forces Instructor Course in 1986 and was then qualified to teach at the Special Forces Schools, where he was assigned as a Senior Instructor in a variety of positions (but according to journalists Idema was thrown out of the Army in 1978).
J. His MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) was NOT that of “rear base radio operator” but was 11B4S-W9– the designation of a Special Forces Senior Weapons Sergeant SCUBA qualified sniper. His secondary MOS was 11C4S-W7 designating Heavy weapons sergeant, and his “additional” MOS was 05B3S-W7 which was for cross-trained commo sergeant (Special Forces Morse Code radio operator). He was later re-designated 18 series when the Army changed Green Berets to their own branch (18). He was also cross-trained in demolitions and combat medicine.
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The entire press corps has been promoting a wide range of vicious lies- as an example, one journalist, Tod Robbeson, quoting an “un-named source,” claimed that Idema stole food from his classmates in the Special Forces Course– if this wasn’t so viciously slanderous we’d be rolling on the floor– (the only time you lack food in the SF course is during Phase I- the portion where you do land navigation, survival, and E&E ops. During that portion of the course in 75-76 you WERE COMPLETELY ALONE ! You walked for about 14-16 days ALONE- so exactly who would have been there for Idema to steal this food from? Was Tod Robbeson counting the chipmunks in the forest?)
Apparently the press feels free to make up whatever they want because they don’t think this guy is ever coming back; that would be a stupid assumption if anyone really knew Idema. The press needs to portray this guy as a lousy soldier, otherwise their myth of torture and conning coalition troops starts to evaporate. Here are some quotes the press MISSED, but we know that Rolling Stone, Columbia Journalism Review, and others were given copies of the original letters:
“Keith Idema may be one of the last individuals for whom the phrase ‘I give you my word’ still has meaning. To Keith honor is everything…. Keith will do what he has pledged to do, no matter how difficult…” “I have relied on him in the past, and never been disappointed.”
(Signed; [The Honorable] Timothy Connolly, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict) on official US DOD stationary (the top Pentagon civilian over all US Special Operations units in the world).
“In fact, I was assigned to teach surveillance operations to a British SAS commando force during which time Idema was their principal instructor in hostage rescue and close quarter battle. He [Jack] was the consummate professional with only two goals in mind; saving lives and combating terrorism for the red, white and blue.”
(Letter written by Peter D. Montfort, former Special Forces operative and Senior Detective with the Dutchess County New York Sheriff’s Office. The letter is dated May 25, 1994)
“SGT Idema possesses a strong personality and a highly developed individualism…He is sure to abrade an occasional superior. Such occasional abrasion is a scant price to pay for his often demonstrated abilities; and besides, some superiors can use a little scraping now and then…Idema is definitely a person, and I prefer a thoroughbred that on occasion needs the bridle, but never the whip, to a plodding cart horse. SGT Idema is the man I want around when the going is rough and in times of stress and crisis. He is a tough and hard driver when you need him. I think the Army needs him and that he belongs in the Army for as long as we can keep him.”
(Excerpt from a 1978 efficiency report contained in a letter of support for Idema written by his former commanding officer, Special Forces Captain Ray Carney. The letter is dated April 30, 1994)
“Idema is a stand-up kind of person. He is what we call a self starter. He is a leader of men and not a follower. He speaks his mind in a true and honest manner and is not a bureaucrat. Although some may not agree with his tact in which he uses to get his point across he is true to his word and is dependable in the highest caliber. I would stand side by side with Idema in the toughest situations in both military and civilian life.” (Letter of support for Idema written by Special Forces operative and counter-terrorism expert, Master Sergeant Peter L. Conners (later Command Sergeant Major). The letter is dated May 18, 1994 on Department of the Army stationary from a classified unit)
I have known few people as loyal and dedicated to their Country as Keith Idema.”
(Letter of support for Idema written by John M. Comparetto, New York City Police Detective and Executive Director of the Rockland County Child Abuse Agency, and later Chief of State of New Jersey Corrections). The letter is dated June 1, 1994)
“Idema goes in locked and loaded and never quits.” “But he’s not afraid of pain, and he’s not sweating death. It’s never occurred to the guy to yield; never crossed his mind…. No doubt about it, Keith is a hardass, but a true patriot, a man of courage and inviolable honor.”
(statements of Major James Morris, recipient of FOUR PURPLE HEARTS, and FOUR BRONZE STAR Medals for valor in Vietnam. Major Morris served three combat tours in Vietnam and has covered eight wars and conflicts as a combat correspondent. He is the author of the best-selling book WAR STORY.
“Idema’s word can be taken as gospel.. I would want him with me in any battle…”
Command Sergeant Major Alex Schwarcbher, US Army Special Forces, and the Senior enlisted man for the United States Army Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg — the school that trains and qualifies Green Berets. Schwarcbher’s medals include the purple heart, several bronze stars, the silver star, several MSMs, several AMs with V device, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.
Jack Idema is “a man who has walked the moral high ground, and has lived according to the creed ‘Duty, honor, Country’…”
Lt Colonel Rick Lester, Classified Special Operations unit (TF-160).
“Idema is the best Special Forces Weapons Sergeant I have ever known, and one was one the most valued team members in my command.”
And, in a letter of commendation,
“…his ability to train indigenous foreign armies is unsurpassed.”
Written by Colonel Gary Rohen (MACV-SOG Vietnam Team Leader) who is currently the Deputy Director of the FBI’s Counter-Terrorist Watch Command in Washington, DC.
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But lets sum it all up- take ALL the unnamed unidentified alleged sources about what a lousy soldier Idema was and how he barely made it in Special Forces School, and then read what the Commandant of the SPECIAL FORCES SCHOOL said about Keith “Jack” Idema.
In an official letter dated January 7, 1976, Colonel Charlie A. Beckwith, School Commandant, who became famous as the First Commander of Delta Force, commended Jack on his “perseverance, motivation, and professionalism” in Special Forces:
“During that selection course you excelled by meeting every requirement set upon you, whether it be arriving at your objective on schedule, navigating across hazardous terrain, evading detection or leading an ambush. The initiative you took and the motivation you showed in attaining every objective of a course that was designed to be impossible to complete reflects greatly upon yourself and Special Forces.”
[Signed,] Charlie A. Beckwith Colonel, Infantry Director, Special Forces School
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Jack Idema (on the left) Graduation day, in 1975 outside USAIMA (aka United States Army Institute For Military Assistance, as it was called then) Student Barracks on Smoke Bomb Hill at Fort Bragg.
The average Green Beret has six years in the Army before he makes it to the course. The age average is between 27 and 35. Idema was 18.Is it no wonder he got shit from his peers??? Most of them were still living with mom and dad at the age that Idema was a fully qualified Green Beret. He was roughly seven years younger than the average soldier in his Special Forces class. That says volumes to me.
Idema being awarded his Hwa Rang Do Instructor Qualification by the legendary Michael Echanis. You had to be a Sergeant on your second enlistment to be selected into the course. Idema was only an E-4 (corporal) with less than two years in the army. Only 11 men ever graduated- ever.
Idema’s Hwa Rang Do Hand to Hand Combat and Special Weapons and Tactics Course Instructor Diploma.
Jack Idema at the Special Forces U/W Ops School- he is wearing an Emerson Closed Circuit Rebreather system for covert infiltration of enemy coastlines and clandestine Submarine lockouts- this was ONLY available to Special Forces and Navy SEAL Teams. Idema was only 20 at the time, making him one of the youngest graduates ever of what is known as the hardest course in Special Forces. He later went to the Navy SEAL /UDT Orientation Course at Little Creek, VA. (the actual BUDS Qualification Course is at Coronado). This picture has never been released before. (Picture courtesy of the SF Schools archives.)
Idema as a principle Senior Instructor the the British 22 SAS Commandos. He is seen here placing a STABO extraction harness on Colonel Patty Baker- the British SAS Commando who became legendary during the battle of Oman. Colonel Baker later wrote of Idema as the finest young Green Beret he had ever worked with and invited Idema to SAS Headquarters in Hereford in the mid-80’s. The rope you see is attached to a hovering helicopter. In other words Colonel Baker was trusting Idema with his life.
Here you see SAS legend Paddy Baker with Idema on the range. This was a PRE- Iranian Embassy Raid and Idema is running a course on the HK MP-5SD3 Submachinegun for the SAS. His course was one of the key reasons the regiment changed from the L2A3 Sterling SMG to the HK MP-5 which would later be used so devastatingly by the SAS’ at 16 Princes Gate in a daring hostage rescue operation. Notice Idema holding a V-70 Pistol in his left hand behind Colonel Baker. He is about to hand him the pistol next (HK only had secret prototypes then). Idema was awed by Baker’s skill. He later said during the graduation that Baker should be teaching the course, not him. Idema called Baker “the British version of Charlie Beckwith– a true hero of extraordinary proportions.” From Rotty Pup in my comments section:
Can I just add that Patty Baker is a true British hero? Because we shouldn’t forget that the guy in that photograph isn’t some aging stiff who spent his career warming an office chair. In fact, Baker spent his active service in the SAS defending the world from commies and terrorists. Baker wrote the book on 20th century terrorism and showed us how to deal with it. This guy’s a true British LION.
True warriors like Patty Baker don’t do political suck-ups like a bunch of State Department/Whitehall fags at a cocktail party — When someone like Baker says Jack’s ‘the best’, you can damn well take it as red that Idema is, indeed, the best.
Looking at that photo of Jack and Baker, I can’t help but feel this is almost like the ‘father’ of counter-terrorism passing on the mantle to the ’son’.
It’s almost painful to imagine what someone like Patty Baker would feel about what’s been done to Idema. (Disclaimer: please bear in mind that I’m English — We only become this mushy about two things — War heroes and … um … football.)
With Ronald Reagan as the President from 1980 until 1988, clandestine and covert Ops, as was Special Forces, were at an all time high. Idema formed the Counter-Terrorist Group, and developed counter-terrorist and hostage rescue concepts and doctrine which would be followed by counter-terrorist units all over the world. He is seen here training the President’s son, Ronald Reagan, Jr., in combat pistol techniques.
Idema being awarded Royal Thai Commando Wings in 1985 by the Commander of the Thai Special Warfare Command in LopBuri Thailand. The man on the left is holding a Royal award device reserved for awards authorized by the King. The row of men standing are all Thai General Officers. This picture was taken in 1985 when there were supposed to be no Green Berets in South East Asia. Idema is alleged to have called the Thai Commander “Uncle George.”
This is Idema with Colonel Gary Rohen on a Special Forces Counter-Terrorist Team. Both are carrying SFM16’s with 203 Grenade Launchers, PVS-5 Night Vision Goggles and Browning Fast Action pistols. Rohen is now the Deputy Director of the FBI’s Counter-Terrorist Watch and was in constant contact with Jack Idema during his latest mission in Afghanistan. Rohen was supposed to deploy with TASK FORCE SABER 7 to Afghanistan but was pulled from the mission for medical reasons.
Jack is a former member of the US Army Special Forces and is a Green Beret. He has operated for the US Government, and trained foreign counter-terrorist forces in Nicaragua against the Sandinistas, in El Salvador with the Ramon Bellosa Immediate Reaction Battalion against the FMLN terrorists, in East Germany and Europe against the Bader Meinhoff Gang, in Thailand with the Thai Special Warfare Command, in Haiti protecting the US Mission against dissidents, in the Middle East against Hezbollah, Hamas and Abu Nidal terrorists, in Lithuania against the OMON terrorists, and numerous other operational areas.
His Special Ops and SF background includes more than two dozen SF, Special Ops, police, counter-terrorist and classified courses and schools. He is an expert in counter-terrorism, intelligence asset development, and hostage-rescue, with more than 25 years’ experience in all of these. He’s currently employed by the Counter-Terrorist Group U.S. (CounTerr Group) as a CT Operator in a direct action capacity against international terrorism, specifically, Al Qaeda and related terrorist groups.
CounTerr, aka CounTerr Group, is an organization based in the US that leads counter-terrorism activites in support of US government initiatives. Counterr Group conducts training, organization, direct action, HUMINT, and advisory services to foreign and domestic agencies. Counterr Group has been in operation , in various forms, in various countries, for approximately 27 years. Counterr Group began deploying personnel to Afghanistan and other countries just weeks after 9/11 as part of the effort to combat Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and other terrorist forces such as the Taliban. Counterr Group’s froeign operating group and CONUS personnel worked in conjunction with Commander Massoud’s Northern Alliance, which were primarily responsible for the liberation of Afghanistan with US Army Special Forces and Special Ops units.
If you're looking for pieces on Jack Idema and his team, please click on this link.
I found it interesting that Mariah Blake would talk about Jack Idema proliferating the rumor that the Taliban was poisoning the food that was being dropped by the American government to Afghanistan. Theoretically, this rumor could have been started by the American government itself to cover its ass.
It doesn't take much to check facts, yet it's obvious the Columbia Journalism review doesn't care about facts--and didn't do any fact checking at all in that piece "Tin Soldier". She says Jack claimed
that the Taliban was poisoning the food that the United States was air-dropping to feed hungry Afghans.
Jack worked with retired Green Beret Lt. Colonel Gregg Long on tracking down the source of the "Taliban-poisoned" food. An explosives mines expert who had run de-mining operations in Laos and Cambodia, Long had skills that were necessary in Afghanistan. He had worked for DIA in the past, and was partnered with Idema.
Though they had drop zones mapped and ready to receive food drops, the Air Force dropped them wherever the hell they wanted to...BLIND...so it was difficult work, but he started collecting those airdropped food packs. Recovering them from the Afghans, he paid them $5 out of his own pocket so they could purchase rice instead. The Afghans had claims the HDRs (humanitarian daily ration[s]) were making them sick and once he had some samples from across northeastern Afghanistan, the mystery was quickly cleared up.
Dessicant packets--the same type of dessicant you find in any number of products at home to keep the inside dry--was packaged in small paper pouches that were similar in appearance to Afghan medicine or the spice packets in Russian noodles. Afghans ate them and were getting sick. Thinking the US was dropping medicine, they took it gratefully. Since the HDRs were printed in French, English, Spanish and German--the Afghans could not read what was written on the packages-none of these languages exist in remote Afghan villages. The Air Force did eventually begin to drop leaflets which explained in their own language how to eat the food.
After Colin Powell demanded answers regarding the team's email, Natick Labs in Massachusetts denied the report and told the Pentagon and Powell that there was no desiccant in the HDRs. Washington believe them. An email came to Idema's team from someone "higher up", saying the team was wrong, their intel was bad, and they were basically out in left field and unreliable.
Which was interesting because here's a suit in an office somewhere telling the guys that what they're looking at is not what they're looking at.
Idema sent them pictures of what they were looking at--desiccant packs via INMARSAT.
These HDRs were packed at low altitudes in Texas, Indiana and South Carolina. They'd been dropped at altitudes far exceeding ten thousand feet. The sealed packs expanded in the air, then hit the ground at terminal velocity, exploding the sealed food inside and creating tears in the outer protective plastic wrapper. Exposed to the Afghan terrain and harsh elements, the food inside rapidly spoiled and became contaminated. Digital pictures were transmitted through INMARSAT to Ft. Benning's Battle Lab.
Rumsfeld demanded answers from Natick. The following day the team was ecstatic because a Natick official finally admitted the presence of desiccant and the more important contamination problem, stating the government contractors had violated DoD product specs.
SF Command moved to solve the problem. Rice started coming in with airdrops. USAID provided emergency funds to the UN's World Food Program to finance drops of rice, wheat and cooking oil. WFP planes and Vietnam-vet crews had lots of experience dropping food in Africa, and it sure paid off in northern Afghanistan.
What could have been a disaster with the press had been curtailed by simple firsthand ground intel.
Ted Kavanaugh tells me that he called the Pentagon and they denied that dessicants were in the food, and that journalists were in an uproar because Idema "scooped" them.
Looks to me as though Mariah Blake didn't think of checking on the story she was making up--probably because she was making it up!
It would seem to me that a school like Columbia would certainly be teaching about Journalism standards and ethics, but then...maybe not, considering the rags they pump out as excuses for reporting. Imaginative lies like the ones they've told about Jack Idema are much better suited for STAR MAGAZINE.
This is from a Special Forces Operator who was there, along with his team.
Great Story on the real Jack Idema! I would like to add that ANYONE that doubts your facts can contact ANY member of TIGER 03 (JSOTF Codename for ODA 595- 5th Special Forces Group (ABN), Fort Campbell, KY).
TIGER 03 was led by the greatest warrior of the conflict, Master Sergeant John Bolduc (he was Team Commander- no officer was on the team) and the second in command was Master Sergeant Kevin Morehead, who was later killed in Iraq in a heroic battle with al-Qaida, along with Bill Bennett on September 12, 2003. Idema attended the funeral on behalf of the Northern Alliance as their official representative and I was also there. “Media hound?” Not the way I see it. There were a dozen media people there looking for someone to interview and Idema never even told anyone but Morehead’s family and team who he was.
If you check the early October 2001 Reports from the DOD, I think you will find that it was the DOD PAO and an ASD who stated at a PRESS CONFERENCE that THEY believed the Taliban was poisoning the airdrops in Northern Afghanistan (I was already in the ISOFAC preparing to deploy when we were briefed on it).
During the press conference the DOD was defending dropping food and not bombs on Northern Afghanistan, which was of course the RIGHT thing to do because these people were, and are still, our allies, even if the American State Department has now deserted them and has us working with the new ANA (a joke of a Keystone Cop army).
The press and the NGOs were spreading unsubstantiated rumors and propaganda by the bushel basket. If the propaganda was successful then the Northern Alliance would think we were trying to poison them and fight against them. We could have easily lost them as a trusted ally, endangering all of the small 10 to 12 man SF teams which were just about to arrive on the ground. The HDR food packs were also yellow and resembled Soviet air drop mines. This was just one of the many problems. Jack Idema went into Northern Afghanistan with a primary mission to find out who WAS poisoning the food drops and to get more food drops to the Northern Alliance and get the right kind of food landing on actual drop zones instead of USAF "blind drops." This was secretly coordinated by the DAT at both the American and Afghan Embassies in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
Jack Idema found out the real cause of the poisoning and HDR problems. Idema FIXED the problem single handily, through initiative, ingenuity, and pure guts.
One night he set up an ambush on an HDR airdrop site expecting to engage the Taliban “poison saboteurs.” Instead Idema saw airdrops hitting allied mud huts and landing in minefields where children would then run into so they could collect their “presents” from America. He got that word back to DOD and USASOC asap.
I don’t think anyone that was truly in Northern Afghanistan can overlook the positive impact that Idema had on allied relations. So powerful that on Northern Alliance commander, who’s entire family had been killed by a US bombing in error, and then promised revenge against America, did not just embrace Idema, he actually became his chief bodyguard and fought next to him for months. It is my understanding from one of Massoud’s bodyguards that the same commander remains his close friend today.
Idema’s original HDR CRISIS report transmitted from Northern Afghanistan to Task Force Dagger Headquarters, USASOC, USSOCOM, SECDEF Rumsfeld, and General Powell, resulted in saving many lives, and completely changed the airdrop policy. It is also my understanding, from a third party source, that Major James Morris, who you interviewed, knew all about this because he was friends with Powell’s speechwriter, Joe Galloway (same fellow from General Hal Moore’s WE WERE SOLDIERS book and film). Another person who knew the story was a Special Forces Captain at the Counter-Terrorist Task Force, Kevin or Ken Harington, I think.
Major Jim Morris (probably more Purple Hearts and Bronze Stars in Vietnam then any General), was credited by Idema in a cable to TFD HQ as coming up with the idea to airdrop rice bags in larger wheat bags, so that when the rice exploded on impact it was contained by the outer bag instead of disappearing into the sand (quote from actual cable: “Major Jim Morris and General Hienie Aderholt used this technique in Vietnam when they were airdropping rice to Montagnards in the mountains of Vietnam- if it worked then it will work now so send the HDRs to Bosnia and drop us rice.”).
This solved the problem of the new airdrops and even the South African UN World Food Program pilots sent their thanks and accolades to Idema. After similar problems happened in Bamian, Idema briefed the team there and SOCEUR started doing the same thing with USAF drops there.
The way I see it is total jealousy. Everyone within a hundred miles wants to take credit for what Idema did, not just on the HDR investigation and resolution of the crisis, but on anything else they can.
Robert Morris (NOT Jim Morris) slightly rewrote Idema’s HDR report, put his name on it, and then submitted it (certainly that was illegal) for a USAID million dollar grant to his phony aid group “Partners International.” I still have a copy of the original report written by Idema but it is FOUO (marked For Official Use Only), so you can FOIA the real report from DOD PAO ASD (dated Nov. 4, 2001). Compare the two and you will puke. Robert Morris was even stupid enough to use pictures of Idema in it (he still has it downloadable on the Partners International website).
Ed Artis, who tried desperately to meet and “hang out” with SF teams in Northern Afghanistan, also claimed he “did it.” (Skurka, who you mention, should be asked about this, he was there, as was DIA LTC Long- who was not really “retired” at the time).
A mousy little USA Today reporter, Tim something, also tried to take credit for it in USA Today. Little Timmy got caught leaving Afghanistan with stolen art objects and smuggling antiquities, but USA Today never told you that story did they? I was at Bagram when that happened, and it was only him getting on his knees and crying that saved him from jail that day. Later he claimed the Afghans “robbed” him of his purchases. He was obviously smoking too much hash (also found on him that day).
Make no mistake about it, four of the men on my team currently here in Afghanistan know for absolute fact that Jack Idema’s version of the HDR story is true.
Read Jack’s piece–The Lords of War. Jack called it, back in October of 2005, and it has all come down exactly as he predicted. I notice no more comments from the Smear Jack Cabal peanut gallery. Figures.
Although this isn’t how the piece begins, I thought I’d jump in and point out his comparison of Afghanistan to Iraq, and how in Afghanistan, we fought alongside the mujhahideen and made a difference.
Afghanistan—is the forgotten land, again. Nobody seems to care much about Afghanistan anymore. Like so many times before, it is left for the history books. Iraq has dominated the news for more than two years. Networks and news agencies have a meager, barely visible presence in this war torn region. Exploding cars, carnage, and bodies make for bigger audiences. Iraq is better for television, and the print journalists follow the cameramen. It is our fascination with the morbid and violent. Bad news sells, good news doesn’t. Everyone knows that.
But in its forgotten niche of the world, where Iraq stands as a perfect example of how not to fight, win, and then lose a war, Afghanistan stands as the one place where we actually did make life better. Where the people really did want democracy, and where, unlike the Iraqi’s the Afghans really did fight by our side to free their country.
My friend Lieutenant Colonel Jim Morris, author of War Story, the definitive book on the Vietnam experience, asked me “does anyone even give a damn about Afghanistan anymore?” Most Americans probably do not. If we aren’t being bombarded with headlines and breaking news, and with images of blood and twisted metal, we quickly sweep the old news from our cluttered psyche.
So here is a tip. We better start caring. Iraq insurgents are flooding into Afghanistan. Afghan Taliban extremists are being trained in Iraq and sent back to Afghanistan to import a new strategy against Afghan democracy. That strategy is car bombs, IED’s improvised explosive devices, and suicide bombings; something new in Afghanistan after 25 years of war. If we don’t start caring Afghanistan will very quickly go from a miracle of democracy to the explosions and flames of defeat. Our defeat—and the Afghans’ defeat. Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida movement cannot allow Afghanistan to be a success. This is clear in a letter just released by ODNI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The letter, dated July 9, 2005, between two senior al-Qaida leaders, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was obtained during counterterrorism operations in Iraq. While its contents may come as a revelation for the ODNI, it is something those of us fighting in Afghanistan have known for years. Al-Qaida is working hard to open up a two front full scale insurgency against America, and Afghanistan in the second front.
Jack’s observation about how the insurgency is flooding back into Afghanistan through the recently re-opened Pakistani border and from Iraq is an important and frightening one. The other point he makes that we need to pay attention to is Al Qaeda’s two-prong approach; a full scale insurgency against America on two fronts; both Afghanistan and Iraq.
In the Lords of War Jack thoughtfully compares the brave mujahideen who fought in Afghanistan for their country for over 20 years to our founding fathers and their struggle for freedom. Consider what is ahead for them as they continue to rebuild what Karzai has destroyed, and they work to take their country back from the Taliban/Pashtuns who were easing themselves back into power. The fight of the Afghan people against the Taliban and Al Qaeda is also ours, and we must recognize the necessity of wrangling the power away from President Karzai, who by all appearance now, has lost his struggle to reinstate the Taliban with American government complicity under cover.
Jack now compares the late great Massoud and President Karzai, and explains why Massoud’s aspirations for Afghanistan continue to live on.
Like Washington, Massoud was a selfless defender of freedom in his country. He wanted democracy and he demanded liberty. He willingly sacrificed everything to get it for his people. Massoud never allowed a road to be built to his village. He often said the last road built in Afghanistan would be the road to his village. Massoud showed pride in the fact that he lived in an austere mud hut with the worst road in Afghanistan running to his door. George Washington had let Mount Vernon go into a virtual state of disrepair and ruin during the revolution. Massoud did the same with his own house and village.
Under Hamid Karzai’s leadership, the first new road was built to Karzai’s village and birthplace. It was already the best road in Afghanistan—the Taliban had made sure of that. The road to Kandahar was the longest and still the most difficult to build. At a staggering cost I might add. Often said in jest by US Special Forces soldiers, but with much truth, the Kandahar road accomplished little more than giving the Taliban a fast smooth ride to Kabul. If the purpose of building roads was to boost the economy and rebuild the country, the best road to have built first would have been the road between Jalalabad and Kabul, which was the principle route of supplies and trade. But if the logical choice was made then Karzai’s relatives couldn’t visit his palace in comfort. But like America’s first president, Karzai is keen on capes, chapan capes. Didn’t someone once say, “Senator, I worked with John F. Kennedy; I knew John Kennedy. Senator, you’re no John Kennedy.” Well, President Karzai, I know you, and I knew Commander Massoud, and you sure as hell aren’t him. Nor will you ever pass through, no less stand, in the shadow of George Washington.
While Massoud’s hope for Afghanistan was one of liberation and democracy for all people, he was also realistic about politics, diplomacy, and cultural and religious influences. Massoud understood that it would be a long struggle and worked day and night to make it a reality before his time left on earth was over. Those around him never realized how soon he would be taken. His loss for Afghanistan was no less than America’s loss of John F. Kennedy, who died before his dream was realized.
Read the whole thing. When I first read this, it was inspiring and compelling. The second and third read have been equally so.
As much as the American media has tried so desperately to depict the Northern Alliance as “warlords” guilty of any number of human rights violations, the reality of the situation is surprisingly different. The reality is this: When faced with the Taliban versus the Northern Alliance, the people spoke at the polls and the Northern Alliance claimed victory in Parliament. The struggle of 20+ years is not over; because Karzai and his enablers (the American Government) granted the Taliban “amnesty”. Unbelievably, the Taliban have been sitting among our valiant Northern Alliance mujahideen; because they were allowed to participate in the elections. Some are murderers of tens of thousands of Afghans, members of the Taliban, who would have done it all over again had it not been for the people who still carry Massoud’s dream of freedom and democracy in their war torn hearts. While carrying the healing bullet and schrapnel wounds, some sustained from cavalry charges alongside American Special Forces who won the country back in 2001, they have now taken the battle to Parliament. Let’s pray they continue winning.
Watch for some incredible news about Jack, Brent and Ed and their release. We are cautiously optimistic and expect that’s it’s just a matter of time before they are freed. We are also awaiting a huge change in policy- that electricity will be turned back on at Pulacharke prison…for GOOD. Say bye-bye to specially-paid-for-privil eges (like electricity [that Americans take for granted] for the American Embassy and others at the peoples’ expense!
Yes, friends, it is time to reflect, to pray, and for more optimism, because we are on the brink of an incredible announcement where Jack and his men are concerned–from the new victorious mujahideen in Afghanistan–our true allies.
The SuperPatriots and Jack images, including the text of “Lords of War” on this site are used by Cao’s Blog with written copyright permission and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US
From Ted Kavanau: Imprisoned terror fighter Jack Idema served about 4 years ‘hard time’ in prison, after being convicted of a white collar crime. That conviction is constantly mentioned to discredit what Idema did in Afghanistan in thwarting and capturing terrorists. Cao’s article below explains facts about that white collar conviction that have been very rarely disclosed in the general media. Cao mentions a “nuclear smuggling case”. That case is the story of how Jack Idema, while training Lithuanian special police after the fall of Communism, was told by them that the Russian Mafia was smuggling nuclear materials out of the Russian arsenal and selling it to potential American enemies. The Lithuanians warned Idema that if he disclosed their identities they would be killed since the FBI and CIA were infiltrated by Communist spies. Idema told his story about the nuclear material to the Pentagon and was lauded for it by them, but he would not give American intelligence agencies the names of his sources. In the trials related to the while collar crime accusations, Cao explains how the FBI played a sinister behind the scenes role to get Idema convicted and have a whip hand over him to try to force him to divulge his sources for the nuclear material story. The result was continual hard time prisons, often being shifted from one to another (diesel therapy, I understand it’s called) when anyone in the media, including Barry Farber and myself, became interested and broadcast his story. A lot of his punishment for the white collar conviction was spent in solitary confinement, It should be noted that Idema’s story about the Russian Mafia and the sale of nuclear material was brought by journalist Gary Scurka to CBS “60 Minutes” and they won a major national Investigative award for it, though Idema was never mentioned or credited for the information.
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Idema went to jail for refusing to cooperate with the FBI in a nuclear smuggling case, and give up his Russian sources, going to jail to protect their identities. That is indisputable, no one involved has ever denied that fact other than the FBI. It is often said, that there are no coincidences in the spook world. Jack refused to reveal his Soviet sources because he claimed the FBI was compromised by the KGB (Jack stated this in a July 1992 Pentagon briefing to the Assistant Secretary of Defense SO/LIC). In December 1996, Senior FBI Special Agent Earl Edwin Pitts was arrested for espionage, and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment for spying on behalf of the KGB. Pitts had been at Jack’s Pentagon briefing, and was later involved in Jack’s case. In March 1998, Robert Phillip Hanssen (FBI Director of the FBI National Security Division - which oversaw Jack’s case) was arrested for espionage. Hanssen was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for his KGB spying. One more “coincidence” - the FBI Lab testified at Jack’s second trial (he acquitted in a hung jury with a 11 to 1 vote in his favor in the first trial). From jail Jack sued the government’s main witness and won a near $1 million dollar federal court judgment (Idema vs. Hambrick, EDNC).
Jack’s assumptions proved true; and there are many more examples of it unrelated to this case.
When Jack got released, he discovered new evidence to clear himself, proved the FBI falsified evidence, introduced falsified evidence, concealed evidence, introduced evidence with knowingly forged signatures (and concealed the fact that a government witness actually forged the document that convicted Jack), and proved that the FBI Lab concealed extensive exculpatory evidence (no surprise there, the same lab people are the subject of an extensive Inspector General Report on misconduct, all during the same time period).
Then he took a government agency to trial, and settled the case in the middle of his testimony as first witness, for somewhere around a half million dollars (a gag order on the settlement keeps him from confirming or denying the actual amount and discussing the case). It was the largest case of its kind ever settled for constitutional rights violations.
He won a $3.8 million dollar judgment (Jury Verdict for $800k actual, $1 million punitive, treble for Unfair & Deceptive Trade Practices) against more people involved in his 1991 federal criminal case (Idema vs Wiggs, et al; NC Superior Court). In that case Wiggs, and others not only worked with the FBI against Jack, but they sold off all of Jack’s possessions, his military awards, and his property, stole his business, and even threw his uniforms with awards in the garbage. Some of Jack’s property was recovered by Special Forces Sergeant John Diggs, and Command Sergeant Major Thomas O’Donnell who testified at trial. Sergeant Diggs, no stranger to Jack’s tenacity and perseverance, told the jury, “I always knew he’d be back for his stuff, so I hung onto it.” The jury was apparently not happy with defendants. The verdict against them was swift and painful.
A FOIA request and subsequent release of related documents to his attorneys post-conviction revealed that a federal investigative agency had Jack under 24 hour surveillance (electronic and otherwise) during the entire time period encompassing the aiding and abetting wire fraud charges time frame. Interesting how the federal agency in question never was able to flag jack’s purported criminal conduct. Also, this Ind was requested by his criminal attorneys prior to trial, and the government denied its existence. It’s quite curious how it appeared years later after Jack was well into his prison term.
The press also writes, as do the weblog sites, that Jack owes $200k in restitution to the government in his criminal case. Jack says he doesn’t owe it because he didn’t do it, and the FBI falsified the evidence. Jack spent $450,000 on his defense, and than $375,000 more to fight a case he could have settled at anytime for a lot less than half of the $200,000. Jack spent (if I’m not mistaken) almost one million dollars to prevent paying one hundred thousand based solely on principle.
Jack’s endeavors have clearly earned him a lot of money over the years– but he still remains technically homeless, having lost his house during his first year fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan and donating every dime of his own money to fight the war on terror and support humanitarian operations in Afghanistan. How people can possibly say the horrible things they’ve said about this man being a “fraud”, a “criminal” a “poser” are beyond me. With all of the evidence I’m uncovering to the contrary, it’s quite simply; appalling.
Men of unwavering principle are difficult adversaries- they don’t think of just dollars and cents but honor and justice. We’d be better off if there were more like him.
What the wire fraud charges has to do with his current imprisonment in Afghanistan is beyond me. I suppose the line of thinking is that he’s a “criminal” and deserves to be in “jail”. All Americans working in the war on terrorism (whether active or former military, whether working for Blackwater or not) should be protected by the US Government and agencies–and certainly not villified. What Jack and his men have endured in Afghanistan-first at Saderat and then at Pulacharke should absolutely NOT have happened. Eric Campbell put it like this
As I attempted to explain to you, this was a war zone. Afghanistan had been at war for 23 years. In war zones, particularly Afghanistan, the people you deal with and from whom you glean information are very often mass murderers, rapists, thieves and charlatans who also happen to generals, ministers and governors. On that scale, dealing with someone convicted of business fraud in the US eight years earlier was not something to be unduly shocked by.
When you report wars you work on the assumption that everyone is running some agenda and could be mixing truth with fiction. The job of a journalist is to try to separate the two. This is something people who have never worked in war zones may find hard to comprehend. But its’ the reality you deal with.
Jack’s fraud conviction, as well as his occasionally bizarre behavior, obviously made me and the other journalists working on the story look harder at the authenticity of the tapes. But we established that authenticity beyond doubt. We also established the certainty that Jack was an advisor to the Northern Alliance and that he was qualified to comment on military training techniques. From that point on, Jack’s past business dealings in the US were irrelevant to the story. As in any stories with time constraints, I presented the most important information in the limited time available.
Stacy Sullivan’s piece is just as bad as any that’s out there. It appears as though we have a handful of “journalists” (if you want to call them that), and a handful of “experts” *cough*, and they’re in this little bubble with a vacuum in it; the vacuum does not contain any factual information. Since I’ll be quoting from other pieces and journalists, I will be putting Stacy’s piece in bold print.
The title really tells all. But it should read: Stacy Sullivan’s connection with the Smear Jack Cabal.
Oh, but let’s get to the good stuff, shall we?
In January 2002, as U.S. Forces in Afghanistan were hunting down Al Qaeda suspects, the CBS news show 60 minutes II got its hands on some sensational footage; seven hours’ worth of videotape showing Al Qaeda terrorists training in an Afghan camp. The source of the tapes, a former U.S. Special Forces soldier named Jonathan Keith Idema; known familiary as Keith, was more than a little dubious. Idema claimed to be working as adviser to the Northern Alliance, but he was also an ex-con who had served three years in federal prison for wire fraud and had a criminal record in three states. He was, in addition, a serial litigator who had once sued CBS. But the tape’s content featuring a masked man in a bullet-scarred compound training to assassinate and kidnap world leaders proved a TV producer’s dream.
Ok, so we’ve already established what went on…she just demonstrates the usual anti-military bias that elitist “journalists” tend to proliferate (thanks, Jim). Yes, CBS got its hands on the VideoX Al Qaeda tapes. And yes, Jack was the source; but I’m not sure how exactly he was “dubious”. His background is well known in Special Forces; as illustrated in this post and this post from SF Ops coming forward on his behalf. Interestingly, Task Force Saber 7 WAS, in fact, acting in the capacity of “advisors” to the Northern alliance.
And yes, he spent some time in prison. I spent some time in the hospital–doesn’t mean I’m a mental patient. Let’s be clear on this point. He spent some time in prison, but he wasn’t the primary in the case. The “primaries” in the case were let go. Sounds weird, doesn’t it? He was convicted of “aiding and abetting” when the original perpetrators of the crime were let go. Campbell put it very succinctly in his letter to ABC:
I worked closely with several journalists checking out the tapes and Jack’s background and qualifications. One of my colleagues was Elizabeth Neuffer, an experienced and highly regarded correspondent with the Boston Globe. She had impeccable contacts in the US military, and volunteered to check out his credentials to comment on the tapes. Her conclusion was that he was a highly unsavoury character but was “one of the best people in the world to be talking about this.” Elizabeth was later killed in Iraq, but the articles she wrote about the tapes and about Jack attest to her conclusions about him.
Elizabeth Neuffer’s contacts were none other than the Assistant SecDec So/LIC, General John Keane, and another sensitive high-level source, which puts the more accurate reporting about Jack Idema in the hands of some heavy weight experts.
It may have also proved too good to be true; Mary Mapes, who famously vouched for the documents purporting to show that George W. Bush was given preferential treatment by the Texas Air National Guard, was the producer of the segment. CBS News arranged for Dan Rather to fly to Kabul for an interview with Idema. 60 Minutes II touted its footage with the promise that as the most intimate look yet at how the world’s deadliest terrorist organization trains its recruits and what it wants them to do to the West.
Ok, so what? As Elizabeth Neuffer, Eric Campbell and others reported, the Al Qaeda tapes were vetted and authenticated…and from genuine military like General Gary Harrell, senior commander on the ground at Bagram air base.
Special Forces soldiers, other journalists, and Army Intelligence immediately questioned the tapes’ authenticity.
Woah here we take a left turn into…noman’s land…
Tracy-Paul Warrington, formerly a chief warrant officer with U.S. Special Forces who now advises American police forces on counterterrorism, says the tapes are not an intimate look at anything except clumsy military play acting. Eighty-five percent of terrorists attacks in the last decade have been bombings, Warrington says.
Geez. Let’s take a look at this one. Warrington was fired from CUBIX Defense Company for misuse of company email, among other related things, when Warrington accused Jack of conducting mortar attacks on civilians from mosques, and used company email to do it. Right about the same time he said this, al-Qaida and Taliban terrorists in Kabul kidnapped several UN personnel in the middle of Kabul city in an attack that was portrayed in Jack’s 8mm VideoX tapes exactly as it was practiced three years earlier. What’s more is–Warrington has never even seen the seven hours of tape. Only the CIA, the DIA, and several other alphabet agencies have ever been given those highly restricted 7 hours by Jack, although most of it was shown to Dan Rather (CBS) and Eric Campbell (ABC) AFTER Jack got permission from a US Army PAO. Warrington, Stacy’s “expert,” has never even been to Afghanistan.
In this film we see raids. This was a method that went out in the seventies, when Idema was in the Army. I was looking at seven hours of tape of something that Al Qaeda doesn’t do. Another Retired Special Forces soldier, a longtime acquaintance of Keith Idema’s, contacted CIA sources aand learned the agency had similar concerns about the tapes’ authenticity. The CIA ran voice analysis on the tapes and concluded they were staged, he says, adding that the agency didn’t publicize its findings because it didn’t want to waste its time on someone it considered harmless. Contacted about this claim, CBS spokeswoman Kelli Edwards said the network showed the tape to three former British Special Forces offricers, who verified the tatics being practices in the video were consistent with those of Al Qaeda, and to a top US military official in Afghanistan, who told us that, in his opinion, the video was authentic. In the terror-charged atmosphere of early 2002, in any event, there was no public outcry over the piece’s authenticity.
Woah. As is mentioned above, Warrington hasn’t seen any 7 hours of videotapes…the only thing he’s seen is that which CBS aired. Next, I’d love to know who this other “expert” is in this piece. Could it be –oh–uh–JOE CAFASSO? WOW I wouldn’t have published his name, either, brain trust. These tapes were vetted–there was no CIA voice analysis that found them to be fakes. The “top military official” in Afghanistan was General Gary Harrell, senior commander on the ground at Bagram air base, who has served in every major American conflict in the last two decades, including Grenada, Panama, the Gulf War and Somalia, and a former commander in Delta Force (a real one, not a fake like Cafasso). It would seem to me that a REAL military official’s professional opinion should outweigh that of an aging loser who lives with his mother in New Jersey and only served 44 miserable days as a private in the Army many moons ago. A guy who ran off on a girl without marrying her after getting her pregnant, and who’s scammed at least 3 women out of money in similar scenarios. This is a guy who I’m supposed to believe from the Smear Jack Cabal that “cares” about people and has done more things for people than I’ll ever know. Well let’s hope he’s paying his child support. Maybe the kid could come forward and tell us how much good ole’ pop is helping his mom out. I understand it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 a week for 200 years.
The CIA doesn’t have the resources to do what Cafasso is saying there–the CIA has absolutely not run a voice analysis on those tapes.
That could well change soon, as many things concerning the life and career of Keith Idema already have. Among other things, it is now clear that Idema was anything but harmless; On September 15, an Afghan court sentenced Idema to a ten-year prison term on charges of entering the country illegally, running a private prison, and torture. Idema had been accused of operating a detention cum interrogation center in concert with another former U.S. soldier and a TV cameraman, who were sentenced alongside him the same day. When Afghan police arrested the trio on July 5, they said they saw a smaller-scale version of the gruesome prisoner-abuse photos from the Baghdad interrogation cells at Abu Ghraib. Early press reports indicated that three prisoners found in Idema’s custody during the raid were blindfolded and beaten and strapped to the ceiling by their feet; five others were tied to chairs with rope in a small, dark room down a hall that was littered with bloodied clothing. All of the prisoners in Idema’s custody were subsequently reqleased; none was shown to be connected to Al Qaeda.
This S*** keeps getting better and better. They were declared INNOCENT of the charges in the second trial, so kiss my grits.
The terrorists weren’t “innocent Afghans’–they were connected with the TALIBAN and Gulbudin Hekmatyar, you idiot. (Sorry this just pisses me off.) Do your research! You could start with Peter Bergen’s Holy War, Inc. Hekmatyar is best remembered for his bloody siege on Kabul and killing more than 20,000 civilians, women, and children with Russian Katucha rockets and tank shells. According to Peter Bergen, one of the world’s foremost authorities on terrorists, and author of HOLY WAR, INC based on his meeting with Osama bin Laden, Hekmatyar is an “ultra-Islamic Taliban” who once “slaughtered 36 men under the Command of Ahmad Shah Massoud… in July 1989,” and later killed “thousands of civilians in Kabul…” from 1992 onward (quoted from page 76, Holy War, Inc., courtesy of Peter Bergen).
Judge Sidiq is connected to Hekmatyar who is connected to Al Qaeda AND Bin Laden. The fact that the US Government took Hekmatyar and Mullah Omar off the most wanted terrorist list should give you an indication as to what’s happening here–and it’s not because they’ve been killed or caught. Hekmatyar is extremely anti-American, but in March of 2003 (if I’m not mistaken), he extended an olive branch to Karzai-and now Hekmatyar is giving his full support to the Karzai administration.
You have to wonder where these people were when Gulumsaki was found with letter in his pocket from his brother at Gitmo..obviously not interested in the amazing story of Jack’s accurate intelligence gathering–and Jack’s amazing penchant/talent for getting–from Gulumsaki, the terrorist who was nabbed off the bus-other terrorists including Judge Sidiq–and as a result of that, he got- the bomb plans, the explosives and the plans to blow up Bagram AFB. If that’s not impressive, he discovered they were going to drive fuel trucks into the barracks at Bagram aiforce base and kill a couple thousand American soldiers. There were also the bomb plans to kill Qanooni who was the main opponent to Karzai and the leader now since Massoud died to the Northern Alliance. AND the plans to kill Marshal Fahim the minister of defense, and all the other guys that were the top allies with the United States. Isn’t it just too bad that Jack blew the whistle on Karzai’s knowledge of these planned assassinations and the State Department’s complicity and silent approval (doing nothing about it)? Something stinks here…really bad. whew!
Just days before Idema’s arrest, CBS News received a video feed from this same Kabul house of horrors, featuring Idema in U.S. Army fatigues and brandishing an assault rifle as he arrested supposed terror suspects. Idema had been in regular contact with Dan Rather since 2002, says Idema’s lawyer, John Edwards Tiffany, of Bloomfield, New Jersey. Rather was planning to go over to Afghanistan to interview Idema again before his arrest because he hoped to get access to the Al Qaeda suspects my client was capturing.” Tiffany insists you can distinctly hear Rather’s voice over a cell phone in footage of Idema discussing network coverage; for its part, CBS says that one of its technicians in Kabul transmitted the feed to CBS News, but denies that there was any ongoing relationship between Idema and the network.
First, if you haven’t read the accounts of Jack’s living among the Afghans and building his well-trained militia, then the stuff about his brandishing an assault rifle sounds outrageous. If you had a picture, though, of what was going on there, you might think of this a little differently. Campbell wrote about it in Absurdistan:
Jack stopped the convoy, suggesting that everybody relax with a little shooting practice. He and his soldiers took turns firing across the gorge with glee, then offered us the rifles, laughing at our clumsy attempts to shoot. Everyone took happy snaps of each other holding weapons in one of the silly, matey rituals of war zones. Within minutes we heard the crack of gunfire overhead as soldiers further up the mountains joined in. It was not much of a threat as a kind of answering birdcall. After 23 years of conflict, gunfire had become part of the natural order. The new government faced an interesting future.
That isn’t exactly the kind of scenario you’d see playing itself out in any of America’s neighborhoods today, so quit playing on peoples’ sensibilities and get a grip on the real situation.
Naturally C-BS is spreading the lies that there was no ongoing relationship. They were the elephant in the room taking video alongside Caraballo, and got out of there shortly before Jack and his team were arrested. The reason they didn’t report on it or use any of the footage is because it would connect them with another scandal, and they certainly couldn’t afford to do THAT, considering all that which Stacy mentions in that paragraph–RATHERGATE and the fake Bush memos.
But the question still remains; How does a freelance torturer claiming false military credentials turn up in American living rooms as an expert on the war on terror?
Well because he’s not a freelance torturer and doesn’t claim false military credentials, that’s why. He’s a former soldier, and a Green Beret as was established previously here, and here. All the actual JOURNALISTS who’ve done their research know that to be fact, and that includes Dan Rather.
The short answer is that, like other con men, Keith Idema made a very powerful impression. Even in that 2002 broadcast, Rather allows, in his voice-over, that Idema is “controversial” but goes on to claim that his most troubling quality his murky past is what makes him perfectly at home in Afghanistan’s freewheeling Wild West atmosphere. The anchor might also have added that Idema has made himself at home in all sorts of places; on military bases, at the head of a fictional company, in Lithuanian police-training camps, in dealings with U.S. embassies, and as Idema now alleges with American military officialdom. And at every step along the way, Keith Idema increased his mastery of the fine art of press manipulation.
It’s odd to me that you would do a piece like this and wouldn’t even bother to investigate what being a Green Beret entails. I’ve been on a crash course since I took this thing on–read Hunt for Bin Laden-Absurdistan-and have even more reading to do–like Jim Morris’ War Story and others. This is a mindset. This is a culture. And it’s more extreme than Marine Corps or regular Army. When you’re on the outside looking in, it’s easy to dismiss things that scream out to people with actual military knowledge, or special forces operators.
This is where the longer answer comes in. The war on terror has been a Wild West insofar as a loose and growing cohort of freelance military subcontractors is concerned. To this day, many veterans are in Afghanistan in the employ of private companies, as volunteer U.S. forces have been depleted or reassigned to Iraq. Even for uniformed soldiers, it can be difficult to tell who is and is not working for the government.
Whether he was officially working for the government is not the issue. If Jack HAD been working for some company like Blackwater, I’m certain this case would have ended up very differently–like the one recently where the men who were charged and held for 35 days were simply released. From Forbes online….
KABUL, Afghanistan - Dozens of armed police burst into a Kabul guest house in October, arresting the stunned occupants. For an American, two Britons and an Indian, the raid began a trip through the Afghan justice system marked by violence, uncertainty and the possibility of years in prison.
A possibility that was quickly ruled out, because they were part of BUSINESS that has erupted in Afghanistan…Heinrich called himself a “partner” in a company involved in construction projects, including work with the defense contractor Blackwater’s U.S. agreement to train Afghan border police. Eaton also said he was involved in reconstruction, including a project to provide potable water. Shaw said he was a security consultant, and Joshi said he worked in logistics. So there you have it, and you know exactly what happens when the Afghans figure out your entire situation, and that situation is connected with big business…some money is exchanged and you’re free.
There is absolutely no question that Jack wouldn’t be in this predicament if he had been employee of Halliburton or Blackwater.
Keith Idema was in many ways tailor-made to exploit this sort of confusion. His time in the Afghan docket came at the end, not the beginning, of a very long and colorful career as a free agent at the strange intersection of paramilitary enterprise and sensational on-the-scene media. And regardless of whether Idema’s claims of government complicity in his actions prove true, they overlook the crux of this complicated saga; The Keith Idema story is a fable of fame, macho swagger, and opportunism in the age of terror, fueled most of all by the craving for ever more vivid and dramatic kinds of media attention. it’s the kind of tale that Joseph Conrad might concoct if he were reincarnated as a screenwriter for Fear Factor or the Apprentice.
Actually, the military has found itself in dire straits since Clinton cut it back by 40%. What we’ve discovered is–we can’t continue to disarm when we might-oh my goodness–NEED them! And to my way of thinking, commiting as our president has done to beefing up the UN Peacekeeping forces and abandoning our own defenses is absolutely no way to fight this terror war.
As Peter Bergen pointed out in his piece “Shadow Warrior”, civilians carrying out jobs that were formerly military jobs is not unique.
Peter: Yeah. I mean, the larger picture here is there are now more American civilian contractors in Iraq than there are British troops. Kind of an astonishing statement if you think about it. Britain is our biggest ally in Iraq, yet there are more American civilian military contractors. So this is a new phenomenon. We’re increasingly privitizing things that the Armed forces would have done, whether that’s interrogating Al Qaeda members, or guarding senior figures like Karzai the president of Afghanistan, and, you know, Idema operated in this kind of shadow world between the civilian and the military. He was in contact with the Pentagon, he did have senior level contacts in the Afghan government.
This has been confirmed in numerous pieces by some heavy weight journalists including Elizabeth Neuffer, Eric Campbell and Jon Lee Anderson.
One of the entire reasons that Special Forces were called into this mess was because we’re undermanned and underfunded–plus, the bureacratic red tape that my son consistently complains about, prevents people from really DOING anything proactive. This is the reason why many have said that the FBI hasn’t made much progress where Bin Laden and his cohorts are concerned–they’re merely cleanup crews who go out an identify bodies AFTER THE FACT.
It’s interesting that you should bring up that “wild wild west” reference, because in the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, the SF Ops who were building partnerships with the Northern Alliance were an interesting mix of ancient and modern warfare techniques. This was, to be sure, an “unconventional” war; and old techniques from early in our heritage had to be utilized.
For example; when my son was down at the Marine Military Academy, I met an old guy who had taken care of the horses when they were there. We’d missed the horsemanship lessons the young men learned by a few years–the horses had been gone for a few years by the time my son went to school there. The cavalry was an old military tradition that has not, in fact been allowed to die all the way. And that’s one of the reasons SF Ops in Afghanistan were able to so quickly join forces with the Northern Alliance. General Dostum, as a matter of fact, had a love of cavalry charges.
And Jack is a man’s man–he’s no liberal pansy ass terrorist sympathizing nutcase like the elitist halls of academe are pumping out.
Much about Idema’s life and times is disputed. But this much is clear: Well before he became a pariah, he was a military enthusiast and a media hound. When he was 12, he was inspired to become a soldier after seeing John Wayne in the movie version of Robin Moore’s best-selling 1965 novel, The Green Berets—a stirring, heroic account of how Special Forces soldiers in Vietnam were vanquishing the communist enemy. By the time Idema, a Poughkeepsie native and only son of a Marine who served in World War II, was old enough to join the military in 1975, the Vietnam War was nearing its end. Recruits for Special Forces—a.k.a. the Green Berets—were thinning, and despite his diminutive height (five foot nine) and bad eyesight, the young man was accepted. But military records do not indicate that Idema was all that special a soldier. One particularly harsh evaluation, written by Captain John D. Carlson near the end of Idema’s three-year tour, read: “[He] is without a doubt the most unmotivated, unprofessional, immature enlisted man that I have ever known.”
Oh YEAH?
“Keith Idema may be one of the last individuals for whom the phrase ‘I give you my word’ still has meaning. To Keith honor is everything…. Keith will do what he has pledged to do, no matter how difficult…”
“I have relied on him in the past, and never been disappointed.”
(Signed; [The Honorable] Timothy Connolly, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict) on official US DOD stationary (the top Pentagon civilian over all US Special Operations units in the world).
“In fact, I was assigned to teach surveillance operations to a British SAS commando force during which time Idema was their principal instructor in hostage rescue and close quarter battle. He [Jack] was the consummate professional with only two goals in mind; saving lives and combating terrorism for the red, white and blue.”
(Letter written by Peter D. Montfort, former Special Forces operative and Senior Detective with the Dutchess County, New York Sheriff’s Office. The letter is dated May 25, 1994)
“SGT Idema possesses a strong personality and a highly developed individualism…He is sure to abrade an occasional superior. Such occasional abrasion is a scant price to pay for his often demonstrated abilities; and besides, some superiors can use a little scraping now and then…Idema is definitely a person, and I prefer a thoroughbred that on occasion needs the bridle, but never the whip, to a plodding cart horse. SGT Idema is the man I want around when the going is rough and in times of stress and crisis. He is a tough and hard driver when you need him. I think the Army needs him and that he belongs in the Army for as long as we can keep him.”
(Excerpt from a 1978 efficiency report contained in a letter of support for Idema written by his former commanding officer, Special Forces Captain Ray Carney. The letter is dated April 30, 1994)
“Idema is a stand-up kind of person. He is what we call a self starter. He is a leader of men and not a follower. He speaks his mind in a true and honest manner and is not a bureaucrat. Although some may not agree with his tact in which he uses to get his point across he is true to his word and is dependable in the highest caliber. I would stand side by side with Idema in the toughest situations in both military and civilian life.”
(Letter of support for Idema written by Special Forces operative and counter-terrorism expert, Master Sergeant Peter L. Conners (later Command Sergeant Major). The letter is dated May 18, 1994 on Department of the Army stationary from a classified unit)
“I have known few people as loyal and dedicated to their Country as Keith Idema.”
(Letter of support for Idema written by John M. Comparetto, New York City Police Detective and Executive Director of the Rockland County SPCC, and later Chief of State of New Jersey Corrections). The letter is dated June 1, 1994)
“Idema goes in locked and loaded and never quits.” “But he’s not afraid of pain, and he’s not sweating death. It’s never occurred to the guy to yield; never crossed his mind…. No doubt about it, Keith is a hardass, but a true patriot, a man of courage and inviolable honor.”
(statements of Major James Morris, recipient of FOUR PURPLE HEARTS, and FOUR BRONZE STAR Medals for valor in Vietnam. Major Morris served three combat tours in Vietnam and has covered eight wars and conflicts as a combat correspondent. He is the author of the best-selling book WAR STORY.
“Idema’s word can be taken as gospel.. I would want him with me in any battle…”
Command Sergeant Major Alex Schwarcbher, US Army Special Forces, and the Senior enlisted man for the United States Army Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg — the school that trains and qualifies Green Berets. Schwarcbher’s medals include the purple heart, the bronze star, the silver star, the MSM, AM, and Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.
Jack Idema is
“a man who has walked the moral high ground, and has lived according to the creed ‘Duty, honor, Country’…”
Lt Colonel Rick Lester, Classified Special Operations unit (TF-160).
“Idema is the best Special Forces Weapons Sergeant I have ever known, and one was one the most valued team members in my command.”
And, in a letter of commendation,
“…his ability to train indigenous foreign armies is unsurpassed.”
Written by Colonel Gary Rohen (MACV-SOG Vietnam Team Leader) who is currently the Deputy Director of the FBI’s Counter-Terrorist Watch Command in Washington, DC.
In an official letter dated January 7, 1976, Colonel Charlie A. Beckwith, School Commandant, who became famous as the First Commander of Delta Force, commended Jack on his “perseverance, motivation, and professionalism” in Special Forces:
“During that selection course you excelled by meeting every requirement set upon you, whether it be arriving at your objective on schedule, navigating across hazardous terrain, evading detection or leading an ambush. The initiative you took and the motivation you showed in attaining every objective of a course that was designed to be impossible to complete reflects greatly upon yourself and Special Forces.”
[Signed,] Charlie A. Beckwith Colonel, Infantry Director, Special Forces School
For some, the words duty, honor, country still have meaning. Thank God for guys like Keith Idema, and I am so disgusted with all that’s happened as a result of his honorable efforts to fight the Taliban, Bin Laden and Al Qaeda.
uh…you people are messing with the wrong guy, believe me. I understand he has a genius’ iq and could be carrying a mensa card. (That’s for all you elitists out there)
Disputed? Not until the hit pieces came out. It’s too bad that you couldn’t tear yourself away from the mirror long enought to do some research. Check out who the people are who are making those statements of support, because those statements you made about his supposedly “poor” military record are so far off base they just make you look like a complete dufus-and make me want to puke. That’s why it’s so unfortunate-that people like Stacy Sullivan hang a guy out to dry on the basis of statements made by guys like Joe Cafasso and Tracey-Paul Warrington in the face of heavy weight military people who’ve been around for a while who ARE experts, not fake ones.
Jack is a pariah to the smear Jack Cabal–they want to make sure he stays one. He’s a pariah to people who are new to the story, which would include you. The journalists who have been following this story–the ones who have seen him in action, the people he’s affiliated with, the emails he’s received from people in government, can see the level at which he operates. Those of you who are reporting from your desks in nowheresville don’t have a clue. I suppose you might call me one of those folks in nowheresville–except for one thing. I’m interested in telling the truth about Jack Idema–not the lies that the Smear Jack Cabal are so desperate to hang onto. I’ve contacted people at ABC, and other news outlets, and I’m privy to a tremendous amount of information that the media who has reported on this case have left out–ON PURPOSE–to paint a terrible picture of this man. The record must not stand as it is; it must be corrected.
I’m going to stop here, as it should be plain that this piece is a waste of time…like the piece in Columbia Journalism Review called “The Education of Stacy Sullivan”. If you try to read it, make sure you have toothpicks to keep your eyes open and plenty of coffee. It’s completely tedious minutiae. You might wonder what the connection is there…because it’s pretty apparent someone at Columbia is pretty interested in every hair on her pretty little head. Couldn’t be interested in what’s IN it, that’s for sure.
SuperPatriots.us are offering Peter Bergen and Rolling Stone a $50,000 Cash Reward if Mr. Bergen can prove his sources’ allegations about Idema’s military career are true, and if he can prove that Idema did not do what he claims he did, or have the training and Special Forces background he claims to have had. No journalist has been able to actually prove Jack Idema was anything other than what he said he was. The basic concept of innocent until proven guilty was ignored by the Afghan courts, and certainly by the press. These men have been forced to repeatedly disprove rumor and innuendo. Journalists simply through out lies based on rumor, hearsay, and unnamed sources or no source, hoping something will stick, and then other journalists pick it up and report it as gospel. Now, we’re shooting them all in the foot– by releasing pictures and information never before published about Jack Idema.
Believe us, if we wanted to we could put up a 100 pages of Jack’s awards, diplomas, letters, and pictures from all over the world, including with General Hugh Shelton (Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff), Foreign Generals from more than one dozen countries, and combat ops in six countries. Let’s just start with this page and address the two main points- First, was the war in Afghanistan “fictional” as claimed by that moron at Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) and did Jack con us all into thinking he actually did something for America in Afghanistan, or did he just sit in a hotel bar and write stories like the way half the journalists did their “frontline” reporting? Second, was Jack a lousy soldier and never a Green Beret, like Floggin, CJR, and New York Magazine writer Stacy Sullivan said in her “Desert Fraud” article?
During the 2001 War in Bamian, western Afghanistan
Jack stitching up a soldier’s leg in a desert fort in Gardez during Operation Anaconda
Jack leading a patrol of Afghan MOD and Ministry of Interior Troops during the 2002 War
Jack at Dostum’s Qali-Jangi fortress during the 2001 war (Jack was supposedly never there either)
Jack carrying a wounded little girl into the German ISAF surgical tent during the Nahrin earthquake disaster, picture by an Afghan soldier (According to “journalists” Jack supposedly made up everything in the Hunt For Bin Laden - do an internet search on an AP story called “Jack Does House Calls- Nahrin Earthquake) - April 2002 Jack spent eight hours getting this little girl down from a village where everyone else was afraid to go. She would have lost her leg had it not been for some brilliant German Army surgeons);
At a press conference with General Hazrat Ali in December 2002- Maxim claims Jack told the General that this was a group of DOD reporters– Now lets see– could the General really be that stupid? An ABC microphone on the table, Newsweek’s interpreter, and a bunch of people wearing press jackets? Duh. Hazrat Ali is one of the smartest men in Afghanistan, and one of America’s best friends– he gave press conferences weekly, sometimes daily, but Maxim wants you to believe that Jack conned him- yeah right, that’s why they’re still close friends. (Owe, almost forgot, the press claims that Jack was publicity hungry during the war– TRY to find this picture ever before with Jack in it. Not possible. Jack had himself cut from all pics that day, and the only agreement the press there made, contrary to lies by stupid journalists we are sure Jack will see in court one day, is that they would agree not to have Jack in their pictures- check the book THE HUNT FOR BIN LADEN - Jack is clipped OUT of the picture)
Jack-handing his US Passport to the Chief of the Border Police at Kabul Airport in April 2004, where TASK FORCE SABER 7 was met by a HUGE entourage, which included the Chief of the Border Police, the Chief of Customs, The Chief of the National Police, The Kabul Police Chief, and one of Karzai’s brothers. This should dispel the notion that they entered the country “illegally”. But if not, there are also tapes of this.
Idema FINDING the Real Explosives- NOT “Traces” as reported in Rolling Stone. This is a piece of A1X2 explosive (similar to SEMTEX Explosive except is is incendiary and untraceable by bomb dogs). Thanks to TF SABER7 ISAF and US MPs at Bagram were able to obtain 4 kilos of this explosive to train their bomb dogs. Prior to finding this explosive in Serajan’s pillow, neither US or Coalition Forces had the ability to detect this special explosive which was designed for sabotage and terror attacks. A search of the house netted the team explosives, detonators, firing devices, ammunition, and IEDs inside pillows, rice bags, and mattresses. The French Foreign Legion, Netherlands EOD Teams, and Swedish Liaison officers all thanked Jack profusely.
This photograph was supplied to Rolling Stone by Polaris Images in NY, yet Rolling Stone still stated only “traces” of explosive were found. This is enough A1X2 to flip a car over the roof of the US Embassy, if used correctly. Traces? We believe the press is saying this because they can not bring themselves to admit they were wrong and that these men found and captured the real terrorists that were going to kill American soldiers.
This is a picture of a meeting that occurred in May 2004, between the TOP Corps Commander Generals who then controlled each of the Corps Commands throughout Afghanistan. These are ALL Lieutenant Generals or full Generals at the time, and two are now governors, one is a deputy minister in charge of opium/heroin interdiction (working on a project and plan Jack introduced), and another is a top ministry of defense official now. From Left to Right:
1- Afghan CIA officer (required to be cropped out of picture before publication), 2) General Wassiq - Mazar, 3) Jack, 4) General Daoud - Kunduz & Taliqon, 5) General Atta - Mazar, 6) General Hazrat Ali - Jalalabad, 7) General Gulhaider- Southern Front command.
This meeting was to coordinate Jack’s operations throughout Afghanistan. ANYONE reading this should be asking plenty of questions-
What planet was the press on when they were reporting this story about a renegade American working “outside” the government?
Is there any possible way Jack and his guys were not working with the consent of the Afghan government?
Is Karzai an American ally, or not?
If he is not, then why are we sending him money?
If he is, why are Jack and his guys (and a JOURNALIST) in prison?
Exactly what is Karzai and his partner Khalilzad hiding?
Could it have been the rigged elections Jack uncovered?
Or the terrorists in the Karzai government?
Or the plan to kill Karzai’s opponent, Yunis Qanooni?
And why the hell isn’t the American government approving their release and getting behind these guys–particularly since they’ve been declared innocent of the charges??
On Unmotivated and Unprofessional:
A. Jack Idema was an Honor Graduate in his 1975 Special Forces Communications Course- and received a letter of commendation from the commander (Idema’s final score was a perfect 100).
B. He was the Distinguished Graduate in Phase I of his Special Forces Course. He was one of only 16 to graduate out of a class of 1250 Airborne and Ranger qualified soldiers to start selection. He set eleven records Light Weapons Records in his Phase II Special Forces Light & Heavy Weapons Course. According to the Chief of the SF Weapons office at least three records still stood in 2004 (just shy of 30 years later).
C. In 1976, according to official records at JFKSWC (JFKCENMA/JFKSWCS) he was chosen to participate in the most elite course in the Army; the Special Weapons and Hand to Hand Combat Instructor School.
D. Within six months Idema was qualified as the youngest instructor ever, and one of only 11 (there were 44 total in all service branches and combined Special Ops units)
E. In November 1976 he was chosen to go to USAJFKSWC-SFUWOC, the Army’s “Navy SEAL” Course. He broke two swimming records - You can call the school HQs to confirm this- We heard this from a former commander there.
F. Over the next five years he went to various NATO schools, including German Mountain Climbing, Ski School, City Warfare School, and was on the Special Forces Pistol Team where he competed at the Camp Perry National Matches, ranking 6th in all combined services on his first attempt. Thousands of the best shooters in the world compete. He also competed at the Secret Service matches and shot a “possible” (a perfect 100) at the NA Day FBI matches at Camp Peekskill (a “possible” means your target is sent to Quantico to placed in the running for the FBI’s highest score/champion for the year, NA means National Academy). Most FBI agents dream of doing that– very few ever do in their entire career.
G. He went to the top secret SWC (different from Special Warfare Center above- it stands for Special Weapons Course- and we can’t even hint at what that was on this website).
H. In 1985 he graduated the US Army Special Forces Jumpmaster Course. But according to the press he wasn’t even in the Army then.
I. Idema graduated the Special Forces Instructor Course in 1986 and was then qualified to teach at the Special Forces Schools, where he was assigned as a Senior Instructor in a variety of positions (but according to journalists Idema was thrown out of the Army in 1978).
J. His MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) was NOT that of “rear base radio operator” but was 11B4S-W9– the designation of a Special Forces Senior Weapons Sergeant SCUBA qualified sniper. His secondary MOS was 11C4S-W7 designating Heavy weapons sergeant, and his “additional” MOS was 05B3S-W7 which was for cross-trained commo sergeant (Special Forces Morse Code radio operator). He was later re-designated 18 series when the Army changed Green Berets to their own branch (18). He was also cross-trained in demolitions and combat medicine.
———————— ———-
The entire press corps has been promoting a wide range of vicious lies- as an example, one journalist, Tod Robbeson, quoting an “un-named source,” claimed that Idema stole food from his classmates in the Special Forces Course– if this wasn’t so viciously slanderous we’d be rolling on the floor– (the only time you lack food in the SF course is during Phase I- the portion where you do land navigation, survival, and E&E ops. During that portion of the course in 75-76 you WERE COMPLETELY ALONE ! You walked for about 14-16 days ALONE- so exactly who would have been there for Idema to steal this food from? Was Tod Robbeson counting the chipmunks in the forest?)
Apparently the press feels free to make up whatever they want because they don’t think this guy is ever coming back; that would be a stupid assumption if anyone really knew Idema. The press needs to portray this guy as a lousy soldier, otherwise their myth of torture and conning coalition troops starts to evaporate. Here are some quotes the press MISSED, but we know that Rolling Stone, Columbia Journalism Review, and others were given copies of the original letters:
“Keith Idema may be one of the last individuals for whom the phrase ‘I give you my word’ still has meaning. To Keith honor is everything…. Keith will do what he has pledged to do, no matter how difficult…” “I have relied on him in the past, and never been disappointed.”
(Signed; [The Honorable] Timothy Connolly, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict) on official US DOD stationary (the top Pentagon civilian over all US Special Operations units in the world).
“In fact, I was assigned to teach surveillance operations to a British SAS commando force during which time Idema was their principal instructor in hostage rescue and close quarter battle. He [Jack] was the consummate professional with only two goals in mind; saving lives and combating terrorism for the red, white and blue.”
(Letter written by Peter D. Montfort, former Special Forces operative and Senior Detective with the Dutchess County New York Sheriff’s Office. The letter is dated May 25, 1994)
“SGT Idema possesses a strong personality and a highly developed individualism…He is sure to abrade an occasional superior. Such occasional abrasion is a scant price to pay for his often demonstrated abilities; and besides, some superiors can use a little scraping now and then…Idema is definitely a person, and I prefer a thoroughbred that on occasion needs the bridle, but never the whip, to a plodding cart horse. SGT Idema is the man I want around when the going is rough and in times of stress and crisis. He is a tough and hard driver when you need him. I think the Army needs him and that he belongs in the Army for as long as we can keep him.”
(Excerpt from a 1978 efficiency report contained in a letter of support for Idema written by his former commanding officer, Special Forces Captain Ray Carney. The letter is dated April 30, 1994)
“Idema is a stand-up kind of person. He is what we call a self starter. He is a leader of men and not a follower. He speaks his mind in a true and honest manner and is not a bureaucrat. Although some may not agree with his tact in which he uses to get his point across he is true to his word and is dependable in the highest caliber. I would stand side by side with Idema in the toughest situations in both military and civilian life.” (Letter of support for Idema written by Special Forces operative and counter-terrorism expert, Master Sergeant Peter L. Conners (later Command Sergeant Major). The letter is dated May 18, 1994 on Department of the Army stationary from a classified unit)
I have known few people as loyal and dedicated to their Country as Keith Idema.”
(Letter of support for Idema written by John M. Comparetto, New York City Police Detective and Executive Director of the Rockland County Child Abuse Agency, and later Chief of State of New Jersey Corrections). The letter is dated June 1, 1994)
“Idema goes in locked and loaded and never quits.” “But he’s not afraid of pain, and he’s not sweating death. It’s never occurred to the guy to yield; never crossed his mind…. No doubt about it, Keith is a hardass, but a true patriot, a man of courage and inviolable honor.”
(statements of Major James Morris, recipient of FOUR PURPLE HEARTS, and FOUR BRONZE STAR Medals for valor in Vietnam. Major Morris served three combat tours in Vietnam and has covered eight wars and conflicts as a combat correspondent. He is the author of the best-selling book WAR STORY.
“Idema’s word can be taken as gospel.. I would want him with me in any battle…”
Command Sergeant Major Alex Schwarcbher, US Army Special Forces, and the Senior enlisted man for the United States Army Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg — the school that trains and qualifies Green Berets. Schwarcbher’s medals include the purple heart, several bronze stars, the silver star, several MSMs, several AMs with V device, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.
Jack Idema is “a man who has walked the moral high ground, and has lived according to the creed ‘Duty, honor, Country’…”
Lt Colonel Rick Lester, Classified Special Operations unit (TF-160).
“Idema is the best Special Forces Weapons Sergeant I have ever known, and one was one the most valued team members in my command.”
And, in a letter of commendation,
“…his ability to train indigenous foreign armies is unsurpassed.”
Written by Colonel Gary Rohen (MACV-SOG Vietnam Team Leader) who is currently the Deputy Director of the FBI’s Counter-Terrorist Watch Command in Washington, DC.
———————— ————–
But lets sum it all up- take ALL the unnamed unidentified alleged sources about what a lousy soldier Idema was and how he barely made it in Special Forces School, and then read what the Commandant of the SPECIAL FORCES SCHOOL said about Keith “Jack” Idema.
In an official letter dated January 7, 1976, Colonel Charlie A. Beckwith, School Commandant, who became famous as the First Commander of Delta Force, commended Jack on his “perseverance, motivation, and professionalism” in Special Forces:
“During that selection course you excelled by meeting every requirement set upon you, whether it be arriving at your objective on schedule, navigating across hazardous terrain, evading detection or leading an ambush. The initiative you took and the motivation you showed in attaining every objective of a course that was designed to be impossible to complete reflects greatly upon yourself and Special Forces.”
[Signed,] Charlie A. Beckwith Colonel, Infantry Director, Special Forces School
———————— —-
Jack Idema (on the left) Graduation day, in 1975 outside USAIMA (aka United States Army Institute For Military Assistance, as it was called then) Student Barracks on Smoke Bomb Hill at Fort Bragg.
The average Green Beret has six years in the Army before he makes it to the course. The age average is between 27 and 35. Idema was 18.Is it no wonder he got shit from his peers??? Most of them were still living with mom and dad at the age that Idema was a fully qualified Green Beret. He was roughly seven years younger than the average soldier in his Special Forces class. That says volumes to me.
Idema being awarded his Hwa Rang Do Instructor Qualification by the legendary Michael Echanis. You had to be a Sergeant on your second enlistment to be selected into the course. Idema was only an E-4 (corporal) with less than two years in the army.
Jack Idema at the Special Forces U/W Ops School- he is wearing an Emerson Closed Circuit Rebreather system for covert infiltration of enemy coastlines and clandestine Submarine lockouts- this was ONLY available to Special Forces and Navy SEAL Teams. Idema was only 20 at the time, making him one of the youngest graduates ever of what is known as the hardest course in Special Forces. He later went to the Navy SEAL /UDT Orientation Course at Little Creek, VA. (the actual BUDS Qualification Course is at Coronado). This picture has never been released before. (Picture courtesy of the SF Schools archives.)
Idema as a principle Senior Instructor the the British 22 SAS Commandos. He is seen here, for the FIRST time ever, placing a STABO extraction harness on Colonel Patty Baker- the British SAS Commando who became legendary during the battle of Oman. Colonel Baker later wrote of Idema as the finest young Green Beret he had ever worked with and invited Idema to SAS Headquarters in Hereford in the mid-80’s. The rope you see is attached to a hovering helicopter. In other words Colonel Baker was trusting Idema with his life.
With Ronald Reagan as the President from 1980 until 1988, clandestine and covert Ops, as was Special Forces, were at an all time high. Idema formed the Counter-Terrorist Group, and developed counter-terrorist and hostage rescue concepts and doctrine which would be followed by counter-terrorist units all over the world. He is seen here training the President’s son, Ronald Reagan, Jr., in combat pistol techniques.
Idema being awarded Royal Thai Commando Wings in 1985 by the Commander of the Thai Special Warfare Command in LopBuri Thailand. The man on the left is holding a Royal award device reserved for awards authorized by the King. The row of men standing are all Thai General Officers. This picture was taken in 1985 when there were supposed to be no Green Berets in South East Asia. Idema is alleged to have called the Thai Commander “Uncle George.”
That should give you a little taste as to the real background of Jonathan Keith Idema, shame on the people who are trying to discredit him.
The SuperPatriots and Jack images on this site are used by Cao’s Blog with written copyright permission and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US
If you're looking for pieces on Jack Idema and his team, please click on this link.
I have read this over numerous times and I just have to laugh at what passes for "journalism" these days. I thought I'd start picking apart the inflammatory lies of "Tin Soldier" by Mariah Blake from Columbia Journalism Review--you know, just for kicks. Again, her piece is going to be in bold type because I'll be quoting from other articles and sources to punctuate certain points.
It's odd, isn't it, how simply easy (and fun) it is to pick apart the flagrant misinformation that's spread by the media on just about any issue. They are becoming completely irrelevant. What's more is--they seem to be living in an Alice and Wonderland kind of dreamworld because they justify what they do to the 'nth' degree, when they have no facts to back them up. It's quite entertaining what's being taught as far as Journalism Standards and "ethics" in Journalism school. So the next time you read a piece about the high and mighty ethics and standards of one--oh--Columbia Journalism Review--you might try to remember how "reliable" and "factual" the crap really is.
Let's begin by acknowledging up front that Zalmay Khalilzad an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Columbia University from 1979-1986, which might explain quite a bit about this piece to begin with.
Ok, now for some fun.
In April, 2004, a former US Special Forces Soldier named Jonathan Keith Idema started shopping a sizzling story to the media.
Is that so? So in those few sentences you have set the stage and have pinned him as some sort of of a con man "shopping a sizzling story"...
He claimed terrorists in Afghanistan planned to use bomb-laden taxicabs to kill key US and Afghan officials, and that he himself intended to thwart the attack.
So he if I'm to swallow what you're saying here, I'm to follow the assumption that Jack had a crystal ball and planned all this out head of time? Where is your proof that he was saying this before the fact or are we to accept what you're saying merely at face value?
That's the problem with so much of this, the statements are made but no verfiable facts are offered so we're just supposed to blindly believe and go along with it.
Shortly thereafter, he's headed to Afghanistan, where he spent the next two months conducting a series of raids with his team, which he called Task Force Saber 7. By late June, he claimed to have captured the plotters, and started trying to clinch a deal with television networks by offering them "direct access" to one of the terrorists who, he said, had agreed to tell all.
hmmm. My recollection of these early events are that Idema was in Afghanistan in 2001, before these events and it was reported by your buddies in the AP. You know, Nahrin Earthquake (where he was depicted as a hero), Anaconda (where he was depicted as a hero), etc.
But all that aside, here's the true story in a nutshell: Gulumsaki was nabbed getting off a bus, and was caught red-handed with a letter from his brother at Gitmo in his pocket. The real news is what all of that intelligence led to.
And contrary to news reports and blogging frauds, CBS had a representative present who was recording everything in addition to Caraballo. You see, CBS originally had an interest in this story. They were interested in reporting on how Idema's methods were different than those demonstrated by the idiots at Abu Grhaib. In essence, their intention was to report that Abu Ghraib was the exception and not the rule.
In exchange for footage and access, Idema wanted a minimum of $250,000 and prominent play. He asked that ABC send Peter Jennings or Cristopher Cuomo to cover the story. Ultimately ABC turned the story down, as did CNN, a CBS spokesperson, Kelli Edwards, says the network "never seriously considered" it, although Idema was regularly e-mailing Dan Rather's office and in June, the network sent two employees to Idema's Kabul headquarters to pick up the sample tape.
That's interesting, because Idema didn't talk to anyone but CBS about this. It was Caraballo who had a relationship with ABC and nobody talked with CNN. And to be sure, there is so much more to CBS's involvement in this story!
CBS wanted to confirm reports that Idema and his team had captured the brother-in-law of bin Laden's chief of security and the terrorists responsible for the murder of Canadian ISAF Corporal Jamie Brendan Murphy. Corporal Murphy had been murdered in a bombing on Darlaman Road in Kabul on January 27, 2004. Once CBS confirmed this, they saw it as an important story against the war on terror.
Idema told CBS that approval for the story would have to be obtained by the Department of Defense before he could discuss his relationship with Bagram or Task Force 180. Idema told CBS that any story should focus on the United Front Military Forces' continued efforts to combat Al Qaeda and why Massoud's UFMF needed continued American supported in their counter terrorist operations.
CBS's bureau chief, with the approval of Andrew Hayward and others, were inside Sabre 7's compound during the period when several terrorists were in custody an awaiting transfer to Bagram. CBS's Michael Brandenberg was at the compound on numerous occasions, and even spoke directly with Osama Bin Laden's chief of security's brother in law.
CBS said they wanted to show how co-opting a terrorist accomplished more than humiliation by untrained interrogators. Idema allowed CBS to transmit interrogation video back to the US from the CBS Kabul office.
Idema, who was paying an Emmy Award-winning cameraman to document his activities, even distributed a sample tape of himself arresting people and interrogating hooded suspects. In one scene he is shown blocking a road and emptying passing vehicles. "Put your fucking hands up or I'll blow your fucking brains out," he screams at a group of men who have shuffled bewilderedly off a bus and are standing with their flimsy tunics whipping in the wind.
Jack did not pay Caraballo to be a cameraman in Afghanistan. My sources tell me that Jack did not even want to bring Caraballo, or any journalist, and the Army asked him to bring three different journalists, all of which Jack turned down.
Wow, Mariah, pretty dramatic screenplay you're writing there. I wonder why you completely turned around on this. You didn't mention how impressed you were with Idema and how you were talking about how great Idema was after viewing those tapes.
Jack dictated a legal contract and within a day or so, there was a response from Columbia Journalism review that it didn't meet with their "objective" hoity-toity "truth telling" standards. HA! And that they would not comply. AND, they contacted Polaris images to get the same photographs licensed for use that Stacy Sullivan had used (if I'm not mistaken) ILLEGALLY in HER hit piece. So someone is trying to cover for Stacy Sullivan's putting her neck out there on this one.
The clip where their robes were 'whipping in the wind" (if I'm not mistaken) was the one where Ghulamsaki was caught red-handed with the Red Cross letter from his brother at Gitmo in his pocket as he got off a bus. The only reason that Idema and his men got the guy was because they had excellent intelligence on where he would be and when. Some guys claim they just drive around and see what happens. Idema isn't one of those.
These captured terrorists were working with and/or for; Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida, Gulbideen Hekmatyar, Hezb-i-Islami, and the Taliban. Specifically, these terrorists had participated in, supported, and/or personally conducted terrorist bomb attacks against foreign and domestic persons in Afghanistan. A prime target of these terrorists was U.S. military forces at Bagram Airbase north of Kabul in Afghanistan. In fact, the American FBI later confirmed Task Force Saber/7’s intelligence reports that several of the terrorists were going to drive fuel trucks into Bagram and explode them into U.S. military barracks in a terrorist bomb attack similar to the bombing of the U.S. Marine Barracks in Beirut in 1983 in which 244 U.S. Marines were killed. Using a rare incendiary explosive to detonate fuel tanks on the gas trucks entering Bagram daily, and taxis, the terrorists expected to kill more than 500 American soldiers, two ministers, and two ambassadors in at least five separate coordinated attacks. These same terrorists had already made at least one attempt on the Defence Minister, and two failed attempts on the 3rd Corps commander, General Attiquallah Lodeen, a close friend and trusted ally of the United States and a candidate for Parliament.
Several of the captured terrorists were directly involved in the killing of Canadian Lance Corporal Jamie Murphy on January 27, 2004 in Kabul, the killing and wounding of election and aid workers in Nangahar and other provinces in Afghanistan, the attack of NATO ISAF forces in Kabul, and were currently planning and coordinating the assassinations of several of Karzai’s key political opponents in the Jamiat Party, including his Minister of Defense, Minister of Education, several Corps Commanders (former Northern Alliance Generals), and at least two Afghan Ambassadors (in Delhi and London) who supported the U.S. War on Terror. The Minister of Education, Yunis Qanooni, was the lead opponent to Karzai in Afghanistan’s new election under the Bonn Agreement, and was a prime target of the terrorists, along with Marshall Fahim, the Minister of Defence, and General Rashid Dostum.
All of the terrorists had been arrested by Task Force Saber/7 with either actual explosives, detonators, bomb parts, and/or bomb plans in their possession, as well as documents and correspondence proving their links and association with the Taliban, Hezb-i-Islami, and al-Qaida, including handwritten maps and diagrams of a past bomb attack on General Lodeen, a Shabnama “night letter” calling for a jihad against Americans authored by none other than Mullah Omar himself, and in the case of a terrorist named Ghulamsaki a coded Red Cross letter from his brother (Mohammed Asef), an al-Qaida detainee in Cuba. Additionally, one of the terrorist’s taxis tested positive for explosives by German ISAF bomb teams. The physical evidence against the terrorists was irrefutable, conclusive, and backed-up by incriminating videotaped statements, undercover surveillance, informants, and extraordinary physical evidence.
I'm sure you reported the lies [instead of the real story (which I find more interesting and compelling about Jack's character than the lies)] -that other journalists and probably your editor had decided upon. But contrary to the picture you're trying to paint, THAT is what REALLY happened.
It appears that Idema still hadn't sold the taxicab story by July 5, when his situation took a turn for the worse. The Afghan police raided his headquarters and discovered eight prisoners, some of them tethered to chairs in a back room, which was littered with bloody cloth. The men told reporters that they had been starved, beaten, doused with scalding water, and forced to languish for days in their own feces.
Give me a break. The red cross reports showed absolutely no evidence of torture except for one guy--some abrasions on his ankle because the flexicuffs were on too tight, and he was struggling to get out of them. No pictures emerged of the "bloody cloth", either. And do you think if there were pictures of actual torture that the media wouldn't have had a field day broadcasting them?
As far as I recall, the actual complaint was that he wasn't allowed to take a PISS for 12 hours, and that violated Islamic law. That's a little bit different than languishing "for days in their own feces". All of the other things were later done to Jack and his men at Saderat after they were taken into custody on July 6.
Of course, there was one picture that was put up at ABC Australia that showed Jack stitching up the terrorist Sherajan. Someone wrote that what he was doing in that picture was some weird kind of Nazi torture technique of removing brain tissue or some garbage. Actually, people at Bagram said he had fixed up that wound rather well and it was healing nicely. So those reports of Jack "torturing innocent Afghans" is so far off the mark it's breathtaking. Sharajan was also captured in May, long before the events that led up to their arrest on July 6.
CBS' Michael Brandenburg was at the compound on numerous occasions, and witnessed the interrogation of Al Qaeda terrorists at the compound. Idema allowed CBS' representative to watch the interrogation of Corporal Murphy's killers, and view each of the terrorists in custody. Brandenburg was also allowed to speak directly with the brother-in-law of Bin Laden's Chief of Security, who was cooperating fully and willingly. CBS employees saw the methods of interrogation, the physical condition of the terrorist, and the conditions of the terrorists' detention, and knew that no torture was occuring.
They didn't, of course, admit this after Idema's arrest because that would have indicated they were present and knew how Idema was conducting the questioning of the terrorists. So instead of telling the truth, they withheld information and proof that these men were innocent of the charges, and instead, put out the same lies the others were reporting.
Afghan authorities determined that none of the detainees had links to terrorism and set them free. Idema, on the other hand, was arrested, along with two other Americans (the cameraman and a former soldier) and four Afghans, and charged with running an unauthorized prison and torturing inmates. After a cursory trial, he was sentence to serve ten years. (This case is on appeal.)
Yes, the taliban kangaroo court allowed the terrorists to go free, and in August, there was a bombing at Bagram. Yeah. No links to terrorism. Ghulumsaki was one of the perpetrators in that bombing.
Immediately after the "guilty" verdict, they filed and appeal and in the second trial they were declared completely innocent.
The taliban judge (in the first trial), the former soviet communist interpreter and all the rest--didn't follow any of the rules of law...and later, the two main guys who were touting the story of abuse (Jalili and Mashal) resigned their posts (to save face) and ran off because they were exposed as the Taliban. Judge Sidiq was exposed as the taliban, linked to Hekmatyar (a buddy of Bin Laden's).
There was a vast difference in the terrorist interrogations done by Idema and the experienced intelligence agents working with him as compared to the young interrogators at Abu Ghraib and other locations. CBS' Bureau Chief said Heyward wanted to compare Idema's effective interrogation techniques with the poor techniques used at Abu Ghraib. CBS said they wanted to show how co-opting a terrorist accomplished more than humiliation by untrained interrogators. Idema allowed CBS to transmit interrogation video back to the US from the CBS Kabul office.
Just a few hours after Michael Brandenburg left for the last time, Idema was arrested by anti-UFMF forces, at the request of Interior Minister Ahmad Ali Jalali (exposed later as Taliban or officially "former" Taliban) of "running a torture chamber", "torturing innocent Afghans", and other illegal conduct. Three other false claims by Jalali were that Idema had "innocent Afghans hung from the ceiling in his basement", that the terrorists were being "abused, tortured and starved" and that Idema and his men were "rounding up innocent Muslims with long beards" (only 3 of 11 had long beards).
CBS and other news networks piled on and reported Jalali's false claims and similar false allegations by Jalali's spokesman Lutfullah Mashal. Ahmad Ali Jalali was a former Voice of America radio news translator in Washington, DC. Jalali, a vehemently anti-UFMF (Northern Alliance) Pashtun from the south, is alleged to have had a prior relationship with CBS News and Fox News. CBS News had also worked with Lutfullah Mashal in the past. Mashal was a former translator for journalists during the 2001/2002 war and had close connections with the Taliban. Idema had warned both CBS and FOX about Mashal's Taliban connections in 2001 and 2002, yet they still employed Mashal and worked with him during that time.
Interestingly enough, since these events have taken place, Mashal and Jalali "resigned".
Don't these so-called journalists realize how transparent their attempts are at this fakery and fraudulent news reporting?
Note how several of these pieces have come out where they use the same terms, and the same so-called "sources" and "experts" who have turned out to be complete lying frauds. It's like a handful of journalists are using a handful of lying sources, and writing the same lies to cover for each other while destroying the reputation of someone who's a legend in SF Ops and deserves much better than this. After what he did--I think he deserves at least a medal! And instead, he got imprisonment and torture with FBI agents laughing in the hallway. Something is terribly wrong with this picture.
For all its outlandish twists, the saga of the taxicab plot was not extraordinary for Idema, who over the years had fed the press a variety of sensational material that seemed to shed light on the shadowy world of secret soldiers, spies and assassins. This time the story never ran, but Idema had been a key source for numerous questionable stories that did. A self-proclaimed terror-fighter who has served time for fraud, Idema took a willing media by storm, glorifying his own exploits, padding his bank account, and providing dubious information to the American public.
Oh that one is rich. Painting Idema with the same brush as assassins and spies really indicates to me that you don't understand the job of a Green Beret, or the work of special forces. Or who we're fighting, or war in general. It didn't seem to me that the AP had any problem with his record before this, when he single-handedly rescued 300 women and children after the earthquake in Nahrin. Take a look at the archived articles here. What this seems to boil down to, Ms. Blake, is media whores talk the line that sells papers. Even if it's a lie.
What happened to journalists doing RESEARCH for a piece --and providing factual information? Idema may have made some money over the years, but he has also spent much of his own money--to the point where he's virtually homeless--to fight terrorism and help the people in Afghanistan. But of course telling the truth about the man isn't as juicy as telling lies that portray him as a 'rogue bounty hunter'. I'm not sure about that, really...I'd rather see the real story told...and unfortunately I'm only seeing it because of my own research. What a sad commentary about the media!
In January 2002, Idema sold CBS sensational footage, which he called the "VideoX" tapes, that purported to show an Al Qaeda training camp in action. The tapes became the centerpiece of the bombshell 60 Minutes II piece, "Heart of Darkness", reported by Dan Rather and touted as "the most intimate look yet at how the world's deadliest terrorist organizaton trains its recruits." Idema also sold video stills to a number of press outlets, including the Boston Globe. MSNBC, ABC, NBC, the BBC, and others later replayed the tapes. Questions are now emerging about their authenticity, some of which were detailed in a piece by Stacy Sullivan in New York magazine in October.
Boy you apologists are really quick to stroke each other off, aren't you? Gotta love that one. There are no "questions about their authenticity" except those in the media, like you, who are trying to perpetrate this fraud on the public. And it would also seem that Stacy Sullivan, up until this point, was hanging out there all alone with that ridiculous piece "Operation Desert Fraud" --so someone at the Columbia Journalism Review had to come in and "rescue" her by printing the identical false accusations, using the same questionable lying fraudulent sources!
Here's Peter Bergen's response to those lies.
Last October, New York magazine raised the possibility that the Al Qaeda videotapes Idema supplied to 60 Minutes II were faked, a seemingly plausible scenario given Idema's previous fraud conviction. But when I visited the town of Mir Bacha Kot, about a half-hour north of Kabul, Deputy Police Chief Mohammed Araf told me that Arabs had indeed used the town as a military base under the Taliban, and the buildings in Mir Bacha Kot match those on the Idema-supplied tapes. A journalist from a leading U.S. media organization who evaluated the tapes told me he had no doubt they were authentic but passed on them only because Idema was demanding tens of thousands of dollars for them.
Now consider that what Bergen is saying about Idema asking tens of thousands of dollars for those tapes is true (I don't believe it for a second.). What do you suppose is the dollar value of the lengths to which he had to go to get that footage? Or the personal sacrifice that he and his family have made in order for him to do this difficult work? Is money any compensation? Probably not.
Do you realize that Idema doesn't have very much at all at present, and do you know the reasons why?
Idema hasn't asked for a dime from any journalist for those tapes. But even if he had--he's virtually homeless because he's been using his own money to fight this war on terror, and to help the Afghan people. To me, the claim that he's in this for a buck is disingenuous at best. As a matter of fact, it also seems to me as though it's the people on the other side who are trying to make a buck off him while he's in prison and can't defend himself.
Idema also served as an expert military commentator on Fox News and was a lead character in Robin Moore's best-selling book "The Hunt for Bin Laden", which was supposed to chronicle the exploits of U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan. And he fielded hundreds of interviews with major newspapers, television networks, and radio stations, which seem to take his swaggering claims--that he was an active-duty Green Beret in Afghanistan, an undercover spy, an explosives expert, and a key player in the hunt for Osama bin Laden--at face value.
He IS all of those things. And for your all of your elitist bluster, you've missed one key point about being a Green Beret. Being a Green Beret is something you earn through your training and courses you've taken. It's an honorary award that President Kennedy began to bestow on SF operatives. IT NEVER GOES AWAY.
From Wikipedia:
Their official motto is De opresso liber ("To liberate the oppressed"). The Green Beret was originally unauthorized for wear by the U.S. Army. It was legitimized by President John F. Kennedy who encouraged the wearing of the beret by the Special Forces. Preparing for an October 12, 1961 visit to the Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the President sent word to the center's commander, Brigadier General William P. Yarborough, for all Special Forces soldiers to wear the beret as part of the event. The President felt that since they had a special mission, Special Forces should have something to set them apart from the rest. In 1962, he called the Green Beret "a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom."
The Green Beret is an AWARD. All other headgear and uniforms are issued when you are assigned to a unit. Dr.'s are not called former doctors, Rangers are not called former Rangers, nor are SEALs called former SEALs, because these are awards which have specific requirements, such as graduating specific schools. I've never seen any article declaring that Idema is active military--to the contrary; he's a Green Beret, and a specialist in several areas as was described in this post.
C'mon, Miss Blake, do your homework. Well actually if you'd done your homework, this piece would have turned out very differently, that is obvious.
Idema used the platform the media provided to spread dubious information, much of it with curcial implications for national security and foreign policy. For example, he claimed to have uncovered a plot to assassinate Bill Clinton; that Bin Laden was dead, and that the Taliban was poisoning the food that the United States was air dropping to feed hungry Afghans. (In fact, people were getting sick from eating the dessicant packed with the food.)
Oh that's interesting, Miss Blake. The Guardian reported on this in 1998 and is it a coincidence that Jack Idema isn't mentioned in the article??? I don't ever quote the Guardian because it's a socialist rag, but listen to this:
Counter-terrorism and intelligence sources say Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Centre in New York, was due to carry out the killing in Manila.
He allegedly told FBI agents escorting him to New York for his bombing trial that he planned to kill Mr Clinton by blowing up his motorcade with a missile or explosives, but gave up because the security was so tight.
Yousef, it is reported, did not say Mr Bin Laden was behind the plot. But one of his co-defendants, Walk Khan Amin Shah, once a senior aide to Mr Bin Laden, allegedly said the order had come from the Saudi millionaire, who now lives in Afghanistan.
Would those counter terrorism sources be Jack Idema? They don't name their source of that information in the article by name.
BTW, the only place I can find the information about Jack claiming the Taliban was poisoning the people is on the websites which are stupid enough to have spread around your bullshit article.
Ted Kavanau tells me that the dessicant story is actually quite different than you describe. Actually, if you'd bothered to check, it was document in several places. In Jon Lee Anderson's "The Lion's Grave":
His first mission was to provide ground assistance to the air drops of U.S. humanitarian aid rations. He had also conducted an investigation into the rumors circulating among Afghans that the rations were poisoned.
“I found out who did it,” Jack said, “and it was not Al Qaeda or the Taliban. And there wasn’t any poison. The people were eating the desiccant” –the preservative drying agent—“that comes in little packets in each ration pack. It says “Do Not Eat” in English, French, Spanish and Chinese. But not in Farsi or Pashto. They thought it was spices! So there were some severe injuries and several presumed deaths. One guy who died ate the Handi Wipes, the desiccant—everything. These people, I mean they don’t even have napkins, how do they know what a Handi Wipe is? I gather he thought it smelled good, so he ate it.” Other people had become ill, Jack found, because many of the ration packs had exploded on impact, and the food inside had been exposed and become contaminated. Jack said that he wrote a report that was sent to DOD, and about a week later the problems were sorted out.
And in Hunt for Bin Laden.
Even though they had six DZs (drop zones) mapped and ready to receive food drops, the Air Force continued to drop the food packs blind, suing what was referred to as "flutter method," an untested procedure where the HDRs were simply dumped out of the back of cargo planes. Idema was not happy with the way food drops were being conducted and started firing off messages to his friends at Fort Benning, Fort Bragg, and the Pentagon. While he waited for a response he started collecting airdropped food packs. Recovering some from the mountains and the desert floor, he paid the Afghans $5 each out of his own pocket so they could purchase rice instead. The Afghans had claims the HDRs were making them ill. Once Idema had a selection of HDR samples from across northeastern Afghanistan, the investigation quickly took an unexpected turn.
The packs had desiccant in them, a drying agent and moisture retardant that was packaged in small paper pouches and looked just like Afghan medicine or the spice packets in Russian noodles. Afghans started eating the desiccant. Sick Afghans started eating even more, thinking the U.S. was kindly dropping medicine. Idema's civilian team fired off a report that Afghans were getting sick from desiccant. One village even claimed a man had died. (HDRs were printed in English, French, German and Spanish, nonexistent languages in remote Afghan villages. Eventually the Air Force started dropping cartoon leaflets that explained how to eat the food.)
Colin Powell received a copy of the team's email and wanted answers. Natick Labs in Massachusetts initiatially denied the report and told the Pentagon and Powell that there was no desiccant in the HDRs. Washington believed them. The message returned to Idema's team from "higher up" said the team was wrong, their intel was bad, and they were basically out in left field and unreliable.
Pissed off, Idema went back to the drawing board. Twenty-four hours later he was emailing digital pictures of desiccant packs via INMARSAT. In the process he discovered something far worse.
The HDRs had been packed in Texas, Indiana, and South Carolina at low altitudes. They had been dropped at altitudes far exceeding ten thousand feet. The sealed packs expanded in the air, and then hit the ground at terminal velocity, exploding the sealed food inside and causing slight tears in the other protective plastic wrapper. Exposed to the rugge Aghan terrain and harsh elements, the food inside rapidly spoiled and became contaminated. Digital pictures were transmitted through INMARSAT to Fort Benning's Battle Lab.
Idema got word that Donald Rumsfeld had demanded answers from Natick. The following day the team was excstatic, a Natick official admitted the presence of desiccant and the more important contamination problem, stating that government contrators had violated DoD (Department of Defense) product specifications.
Yeah, here's a "rogue" warrior criminal guy who a) doesn't care about the Afghan people and b) has no contacts in Washington. Give me a break.
Idema never told anyone that the Taliban was poisoning the food that the Americans were dropping into Afghanistan as humanitarian aid to starving people. You could easily speculate that the American government itself started to talk that way--in the beginning when they were denying that desiccants were in the food.
Here's an SF Operator from comments [thanks, Dan]:
I would like to add that ANYONE that doubts your facts can contact ANY member of TIGER 03 (JSOTF Codename for ODA 595- 5th Special Forces Group (ABN), Fort Campbell, KY).
If you check the early October 2001 Reports from the DOD, I think you will find that it was the DOD PAO and an ASD who stated at a PRESS CONFERENCE that THEY believed the Taliban was poisoning the airdrops in Northern Afghanistan (I was already in the ISOFAC preparing to deploy when we were briefed on it).
During the press conference the DOD was defending dropping food and not bombs on Northern Afghanistan, which was of course the RIGHT thing to do because these people were, and are still, our allies, even if the American State Department has now deserted them and has us working with the new ANA (a joke of a Keystone Cop army).
Jack Idema went into Northern Afghanistan with a primary mission to find out who WAS poisoning the food drops and to get more food drops to the Northern Alliance and get the right kind of food landing on actual drop zones instead of USAF "blind drops." This was secretly coordinated by the DAT at both the American and Afghan Embassies in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
Jack Idema found out the real cause of the poisoning and HDR problems. Idema FIXED the problem single handily, through initiative, ingenuity, and pure guts.
Make no mistake about it, four of the men on my team currently here in Afghanistan know for absolute fact that Jack Idema’s version of the HDR story is true.
Kavanau called the Pentagon and they denied these packets were packed in that food. PLUS, there were several reporters who claimed they broke the dessicant story FIRST and were pissed that Idema picked it up as though it were his. That's the only problem here--Idema never said the Taliban was poisoning the food. That's utter BS, but it goes along with the rest of the BS flavor of this piece.
I can pick holes in every single paragraph of this thing... I'm going to stop at the piece de resistance...just a few more to go...This next one is priceless...
Idema's career as a media personality reached its peak during the final breathless weeks of the run-up to the war in Iraq. Much of the information he provided during that period echoed the Bush administration's hotly contested rationale for the war. He told MSNBC that the link between Iraq and Al Qaeda was "common knowledge" on the ground in Afghanistan, and claimed in an interview with WNYC radio's Leonard Lopate that "Iraq has been involved in supporting Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations with money, with equipment, with technology, with weapons of mass destruction." He told other wide-eyed journalists that there was ample evidence linking "Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia to Al Qaeda and to the attacks on September 11," and professed to have firsthand knowledge of nuclear weapons being smuggled from Russia to all three members of the "axis of evil"--Iraq, Iran and North Korea. Few in the media questioned Idema's claims, much to the alarm of some who knew him.
This is too much, :lol:. The "rationale for the war" is not, nor has it ever been "hotly contested". An neither is the Saddam/Iraq/Al Qaeda/Bin Laden Connection. Only where the myth plays dramatically--in the no-account clueless world of the media.
What familiar about all of this is how FDR was demonized in the press for the war with the nazis. At the time, Joe Kennedy tried to talk him out of it; saying that Hitler had it "in the bag". Clare Boothe Luce was the wife of Time Magazine Founder Harry Luce, and she was also a playright. Clare Boothe Luce said that FDR "lied us into war" with the nazis. So this is all eerily familiar. And as usual, the leftists are on the wrong side of history. Because as it's been pointed out before, they've been wrong about every single conflict we've ever been engaged in. But I digress.
A couple of words on the Saddam Hussein/Al Qaeda Connection, one of which is husseinandterror.com
*Photographs taken by Malaysian intelligence in January 2000 place Ahmed Himat Shakir, an Iraqi intelligence operative, at key planning meetings with Al Qaeda members for the bombing of the USS Cole and the September 11 attacks. * In 1992, according to Iraqi intelligence documents obtained after the war, bin Laden met with Iraqi intelligence officials in Syria. * Sudanese intelligence officials told me that their agents had observed meetings between Iraqi intelligence agents and bin Lade3n starting in 1994, when bin Laden lived in Khartoum. * Michael Scheuer, the former head of the bin Laden unit at the CIA and a sharp critic of the Bush administration, writes in his 2002 "Through our Enemies' Eyes" that bin Laden "made a connection with Iraqi's intelligenc service through its Khatroum station. * Examining the bin Laden-Iraq-Sudan nexus in the early 1990s, Weekly Standard writer Stephen Hayes reports: "In Sudan, bin Laden decided to acquire and, when possible, use chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons against Islam's enemies. Bin Laden's first moves in this direction were made in cooperation with NIF (Sudan's National Islamic Front), Iraq's intelligence service, and Iraqi CBRN scientists and technicians. He made contact with Baghdad with its intelligence officers in Sudan and by a [Hass al-] Turabi-brokered June 1994 visit by Iraq's then intelligence chief Faruq al-Hijazi; according to Milan's Corriere della Sera, Saddam, in 1994, made al-Hijazi responbielf ro "nurting Iraq's ties to [Islamic] fundamentalist warriors. Turabi had plans to formulate a "common strategy" with bin Laden and Iraq for subverting pro-U.S. Arab regimes, but the meeting was a get-acquainted session where al-Hijazi and bin Laden developed a good rapport that would flourish in the late 1990's. * Bin Laden met at least eight times with officers of Iraq's Special Security Organization, a secret police agency run by Saddam's son Qusay, according to intelligence made public by Secretary of State Colin Powell, speaking before the UN Security Council on February 6, 2003. *Bin Laden met the director of the Iraqi Mukhabarat, Iraqi's external intelligence service, in Khartoum in 1996, according to Powell. * An al Qaeda oeprative now held by the US confessed that in the mid-1990's, bin Laden had forged an agreement with Saddam's men to cease all terrorist activities against the Iraqi dictator, Powell said. * Saddam's relationship to bin Laden was documented while the arch terrorist was based in Sudan from 1991 to 1996, Patrick Fitzgerald, an US attorney in the Clinton US Justice Department, prepared an indictment of bin Laden. "Al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that Al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the government of Iraq." This is substantially what Powell would tell the UN years later, on the eve of the war.
From Disinformation, by Richard Miniter, Page 110, 2005 Regnery Publishing.
And this is only a small part of the list. You've got Meetings, Money, Training Personnel...the list of connections is extensive.
And on and on and on. Look, if I can come up with this stuff, why can't a journalist who's supposed to be "connected" with tell-all sources?
Oh yeah. I forgot. Journalism isn't about reporting facts, it's about spinning the news according to the party line. IN this case, it's about furthering "no wmd", "Bush lied, men died", etc.. So the party line on Idema was to paint him as a "rogue warrior", a backyard "paintball" enthusiast who had fantasies of 007, but who was really a criminal. I think that about sums it up.
Needless to say--outside of the blind lying elitist journalist circles, there is no doubt a clear connection between Bin Laden, Al Qaeda and 9/11. And there is also no doubt that Idema has an extensive background in counter terrorist operations, is a former Special Forces soldier, and a Green Beret.
At any rate, we all know the suitcase nukes story is true; this ABC News Clip from 1999 describes the fact that Bin Laden was actively pursuing obtaining nuclear weapons, declaring it is the duty of muslims to possess these weapons.
Weaving in the baseless statement that the rationale for the war was hotly contested is merely the continued perpetration of the big lie on the American public. Blake's piece demonizes one of the greatest patriots of our time; Jack Idema. I'm pretty sick of this, and I'd like to see just one large pundit--just one big blogger to pick up this story--because right now, all "news outlets" are pretty sad in my estimation--as perveyors of truth, as far as reporting anything at home or abroad accurately, fairly, or taking the best interests of our national security at heart.
"The media saw this outfitted, gregarious, apparently knowing guy, and they didn't check him out," says Ed Artis, chairman and founder of the humanitarian organization Knightsbridge International, who met Idema in Afghanistan in late 2001 and later tried to warn the government and media organizations that Idema was misrepresenting himself. "They ran story after story that furthered the cachet of a self-serving, self-aggrandizing criminal."
Whew. Put your boots on, and pull up your pantlegs. Let's take a look at this last paragraph. Who exactly is Ed Artis?
Since I've taken up this story, people are coming out of the woodwork who are surprised he hasn't gotten people killed, surprised he hasn't gotten himself killed, and more importantly, are anxious to see the truth be told.
Knightsbridge International is a supposed "humanitarian" organization that is supposedly doing good deeds. You can read about Artis' and Laws' exploits at several websites online. They talk about how Knightsbridge is a cross between Mother Teresa and Indiana Jones. If that doesn't make you roll your eyes back into their sockets, Artis' talks about being a Knight of Malta, that sounds impressive, doesn't it? But the fact is- Americans don't have Knights of anything. There are no American knights --except for the Knights of Malta, which you can join if you pay them $5,000. There are some definite similarities that I can see between Knightsbridge and George Galloway's Miriam Appeal.
Artis has reportedly taken money people thought they were paying for humanitarian work to hire photojournalists to record his exploits on film. Artis, according to my sources, has a $400,000 or so home in California, which he had quick-claimed deeded to his wife in order to avoid problems with litigation. Miriam Appeal, which was originally put together to supposedly cure a little Iraqi child of leukemia, is still collecting funds, long after the little girl was cured, paying for, in part, Galloway's lavish lifestyle. The Global Coalition to End Human Trafficking NOW has some interesting things going on, not the least of which is an investigation for charity fraud. Curiously, Christine Dolan started up another organization in order to continue defrauding people out of their money, called The International Humanitarian Campaign Against the Exploitation of Children.
Dolan's group claims connection with Knightsbridge.
In addition to that, Ed Artis has claimed -under oath--that the medals he has worn to formal events (like at an event at West Point, for example)--are fake.
During 1994, Artis scammed his way into a war zone and hitched a ride on a C-130, claimed he was "Airborne" so he could get to the capital, broke in and stole documents. He certainly isn't all that he claims to be, and you'd wonder why he'd want to steal documents and what he'd possibly be using them for? Another member of the smear Jack cabal said Artis "has helped more people than you can imagine'. Yeah, I wonder what the definition of "helped" is. Refusing to give the food you've stashed for your flabby self to starving people because all you're really looking for is pictures and movies taken of yourself "rescuing them"? Endangering a man by telling the media about his dangerous (and secret) mission, the times of the flights, etc., in order to brag that "mercs" would meet him at the airport? Supposed "Knights of Malta" who had "vowed" to "help" and would join him at New Orelans, New York, Brusssels, Kanshasa, Goma--who never showed up? But were hungry to get their hands on bloody machetes off the battlefield and sell them at a high price?
Reminds me of the stories of him in Afghanistan--buying black turbans and smearing them with chicken blood and dirt, in order to claim he'd taken them off dead Taliban or Al Qaeda and turn around and sell them. What kind of sick minds come up with this stuff?
Sure, it's sounds heroic to go to third world countries and provide any manner of relief--set yourself up as a "knight" which appeals to the elitists and opens their pocketbooks. Buy yourself a PHD from a papermill and claim you're a "doctor"--But it's also disgusting when the entire reputation--all the medals, the fake vatican passport, etc., are entirely fraudulent. When he went to Africa, he was taken into a combat zone and promising everyone he ran across, apparently not aware how dangerous things were, that he could get them a vatican passport. And from what I gather they didn't look real--they looked childish. He has (over the years) somehow managed to avoid getting people killed--which is something the people he's dealt with in places like Afghanistan still wonder at. Someone that clueless-that determined to pay for photojournalists to film him handing out blankets--and willing to re-shoot it--much like John Kerry--so he could get the best footage--is who the real man is. A man who gets almost a sexual pleasure out of self-promotion, and has a laundry list of fake exploits he's willing to wave in your face.
He is Walter Mitty in the flesh.
In just the first little more than a page--there are lies in every single paragraph of this piece! There is something wrong with this picture.
Idema's U.S. office is tucked inside a hulking brick warehouse in Fayetteville, North Carolina--home to Fort Bragg, America's largest military base and command center for the U.S. Army Special Operations. There's little to distinguish the building from its industrial surroundings except the dark-tinted windows, and the red "Restricted Access" plaque that clings to the front door. Inside, the cavernous space is cluttered with evidence of Idema's Afghan mission: crumpled boxes of medical supplies, a lime-green presentation board bearing an organizational chart for Al Qaeda, a massive topographical map of Afghanistan. Movie posters of scowling, leather-clad action heroes plaster the surrounding walls, including a particular large one from Men in Black over Idema's desk. It shows two movie stars clutching super-sized guns and reads, "Protecting the Earth from the Scum of the Universe".
The decore reflects Idema's decades-long quest to fashion himself an action hero. He joined the army in 1975 and qualified for the Special Forces, but his performance was often lacking. In an evaluation report dated July 7, 1977, Captain John D. Carlson described him as "without a doubt the most unmotivated, unprofessional, immature enlisted man that I have ever known."
In reality, John D. Carlson was a 26-year old captain who was an ROTC guy who spent a year or so in the army and got out...where is he now? And where did that "evaluation report" come from? And who really wrote it? There is no such "evluation report". John D. Carlson doesn't exist anymore and what's a certifiable fact is--John D. Carlson was a guy who might have SAID that, but he didn't write it in any report. If he did, I'd sure like to see it, because I'm certain that it was one of those fakeries made up by a certain "Colonel" who's been very good at contacting the media and feeding them fake military documents to discredit Idema. Carlson wasn't even in a position to "evaluate" Idema.
In 1978 he transferred to a reserve unit where he served until 1981, when he was relieved of his duties, in part for his irrationality and tendency toward violence. His military records indicate that he never saw combat.
Too bad you haven't seen his DD214A. The DD214 shows the first time you get out. After that, it's the DD214A. Sure, he'll punch someone in the nose--somebody who deserves it, and I can't blame him. I've even heard that he allegedly pulled off a shot with a firearm at someone. So what if he did? Can't say I haven't seen that happen, either. I work with a guy whose hip was shot off by an elephant gun at a shooting range. He had a hip replacement when he was something like 25. And he was shot by his own relative, and there's still some question as to whether or not the incident was "accidental". So...stuff happens. Maybe not to pansies, but this guy is no pansy. Was the whiner hurt by the shots Jack allegedly pulled off, or was he just freaked out? And do you suppose with Jack's training he could have hit the mark, had he the inclination? Just think about that for a second.
It's also an interesting observation that you took such detailed notes of your surroundings when you were stealing documents from his office. You certainly haven't noted any of the "facts" where he's concerned.
Here again, we have a case where just about every line is manufactured by the Smear Jack Cabal or just complete garbage, so I'm going to wrap it up right here.
The news is starting to hit the media now, isn't it interesting how--up until this point, they were reporting that Rabanni was the shoe-in? From Reuters (courtesy ABC):
KABUL (Reuters) - Self-styled Afghan opposition leader Yunus Qanuni was elected president of the lower house of parliament on Wednesday, narrowly beating a former factional leader allied to President Hamid Karzai.
Don't you just love how that opens? "Self-style Afghan opposition leader Yunus Qanuni"...bwahahahaha!
Qanuni is the ever-popular Northern Alliance leader who the western media has been deriding as a "warlord". And here we go with "beating a former factional leader allied to President Hamid Karzai". That would be Rabanni, who the American government has been showering with money. Didn't work, Rabanni stepped down and threw his support behind Qanuni. An article from Alertnet also from Reuters supports that statement.
Meanwhile, ex-president, Burhanudin Rabbani, announced his backing to Mohammad Yunus Qanooni, leader of the opposition alliance, the National Understanding Front (NUF).
And what's more is--this was a far greater win than the media dare admit. The next few words are an attempt to depict this as a "close race":
Qanuni, an ethnic Tajik who came a distant second to Karzai in presidential elections last year, was chosen to lead the 249-seat lower house of parliament with 122 votes against 117 for his closest challenger, Abdul Rabb Rasoul Sayyaf.
Actually, "distant second" is hardly what it was. There were accusations of voter fraud in the Karzai election, which were completely ignored by the press.
Ever faithful to their complaints about "human rights abuses", they continue their slanted reporting with this:
Qanuni's election and the fact Sayyaf came a close second, will be a disappointment to human rights groups, who have accused both of links to rights abuses.
And then this at the end.
Woman MP Malalai Joya, an outspoken critic of former warlords who secured assembly seats and has vowed to take them on, was shouted down when she tried to read a statement in that session.
On Monday, Qanuni dismissed concerns about warlords, saying the term was outmoded and the popular vote should be respected, a comment that appeared to underline fears that some MPs would try to block bids to bring war criminals to justice.
Perhaps what they should consider (not in my lifetime, though)-is that the Taliban and Al Qaeda (America's sworn enemies) were driven out and were the real criminals who perpetrated REAL crimes against the Afghan people. When the Taliban was in power, children weren't allowed to even fly kites in the street. But now, the Taliban has been given amnesty and have been allowed to participate in the elections, and the border to Pakistan has been opened in order to allow members of Al Qaeda and the Taliban back into the country. Considering that, the announcement in the news today about the US to reduce forces in Afghanistan in 2006 and how Rumsfeld just announced that this reduction won't effect the 'hunt for Bin Laden' is a complete joke! What hunt for Bin Laden? Excuse me, but Mullah Omar and Hekmatyar have been removed from the terrorist watch list--that should tell you something about this war and our willingness to fight it!
What a consistent source of amazement--how the press continues to sympathize with terrorists, undermine national security with cries of human rights violations --only on behalf of the terrorists who saw peoples' heads off and beat and stone women in the street. In the meantime, mum is the word on Jack Idema and the Americans held at Pulacharke. Un.be.lievable!
Parliament sat this week in Afghanistan for the first time in history, and Rabanni held a press conference (much to the American government's dismay) and said he is standing down and throwing his support behind Yanus Qanooni. Qanooni, in case you don't know, is the sweet quiet new head of Parliament that the Americans were trying to throw over by throwing lavish amounts of money at Rabanni. It didn't work. Qanooni is a good friend of Jack's, so it should be interesting to see how this all plays out.
All of this means great things for our friends who are still being held at Pulacharke, even though VP Cheney visited Afghanistan and for the first time in months, electricity was turned on. For one day. And right after Cheney left, it was turned back off again.
Contrary to what the Smear Jack Cabal has to say about it, while the electricity was on, they were able to use their computers. I'm sure it pains the Smear Jack Cabal to know that none of their allegations are true. And contrary to what the Smear Jack Cabal has to say about it, they still enjoy their wonderful accommodations, thanks to the Northern Alliance.
The hundreds of visitors per day that Jack has been receiving from Parliament and Generals in the UFMF has subsided because the new government has a tremendous undertaking ahead...they need to elect their new leaders, and the power that Karzai has been using against them is further slipping away.
As a result of the good news about Parliament sitting, electing their new representatives, and Karzai's power being quelled as a result, we also feel confident that Jack and his men will soon be released from Pulacharke--it is only a matter of time. With the winds of change in the air, the Northern Alliance still being derided by Carlotta Gall and other clueless American journalists as "warlords" who are guilty of human rights violations (and the Taliban and Al Qaeda are not?)-it is time to smile, and soon we will be celebrating the news of Jack, Brent and Ed's release.
Most importantly, we should be celebrating the fact that--in spite of our government's manipulation and playing into the hands of the terrorists, the people have spoken and the Northern Alliance has the majority of seats. The Northern Alliance is clearly in control, so...we shall see what forces win in the end. And it doesn't appear to me as though at this moment, it's going to be the Taliban/Pashtuns of the country.
We should still continue to raise hell with our representatives, however, because their heightened awareness to what this can do to the Bush administration and the war on terror is also a key to this entire situation. The fact that the western journalists have twisted the news coming out of Afghanistan should be no surprise, but the shame of it is--they've completely ignored the biggest story of the war on terror to date; Jack Idema, his Taliban trial conviction and the US Government's complicity in his torture at Sederat and later his imprisonment along with Brent Bennett and Ed Caraballo AFTER THEY WERE DECLARED INNOCENT IN A SECOND TRIAL.
Contact your representatives and ask them why Idema, Bennett and Caraballo are STILL being held at Pulacharke when they were all declared innocent by the Afghans since at least December of last year.
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
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: jwillems@ohchr.org www.ohchr.org
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
We should make it clear that we know what has gone on here and that it's an outrage and all men from TF Sabre/7 should be released, exonerated, their names cleared. And we should be also pushing for a Congressional investigation as to who was involved, the how and the why. Nobody fighting in Afghanistan or Iraq should EVER have to worry about being hung out to dry like this by a government that is employing stalinist tactics and turning its back on all the freedoms and rights that have been provided and guaranteed us by our founding documents and the blood of our forefathers, many of whom are laying at Arlington cemetary--as well as old standards which all men in uniform think they have as safeguards such as the Geneva Conventions. Are we to apply the Geneva Conventions to terrorists to whom these safeguards don't apply and ignore them for our men in uniform for whom they were written???
If so, we're setting ourselves up for FAILURE in this TERROR WAR.
This is the "Free Jack" campaign.
To join the campaign, email me and tell me you want to join the Free Jack Idema blogburst. You will be added to the blogroll and I'll send you the html code to put up for that week in case you're pressed for time and can't put something together...or you can write your own.
We will be blogging on this every Wednesday until he and his team are released, and when they are, we'll be blogging about a congressional hearing.
I will maintain an email list, and will email you the post of the week along with a picture (if there is one for that week) to host at your blog.
Join the fight. No American should ever have to worry about ending up in this predicament ever again. But first, we must make sure they get home safely and in one piece.
Fidelis ad urnam.
Cao.
Blogs who are not posting on this and linking back to me will be deleted from the blogroll. I will be checking.
This has got to take the cake when the guy comes off as some kind of rich elitist socialist pig.
"IT GUY" ...lol yeah at the bottom of the totem pole, on the help desk, calling other people racists when he works in a multicultural environment, hating every moment of it. And he goes home at night and works on his little second hand pc with windows 98 on it...lol.
Not the jet-setting champagne drinking cocktail party communist we were all envisioning now, is he?
Ra'ed al-Banna loved America. During his nearly two years in the U.S., al-Banna, a lawyer by training, made a living as a factory worker, a shuttle-bus driver and a pizza tosser. He went to the World Trade Center and the Golden Gate Bridge, grew his hair long and listened to Nirvana. He told his family back in Jordan about the honesty and kindness of Americans. "They respect anybody who is sincere," he told his father. He said he had planned to marry an American woman until her parents demanded that the wedding take place in a Christian church. After a visit home in 2003, he set off again for the U.S., hoping to find a wife, have a family, settle down. "He was hoping for a job that earns a lot of money," says Talal Naser, 25, who is engaged to one of Ra'ed's sisters. "He loved life in America, compared to Arab countries. He wanted to stay there."
He never got the chance. After he was denied entry at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport for apparently falsifying details on his visa application, al-Banna's life took a turn that led him down the path of radical Islam and ultimately to join the insurgency against the U.S. in Iraq. His odyssey ended on March 3 when al-Banna's brother Ahmed received a call on his cell phone from a man identifying himself as "one of your brothers from the Arab peninsula"--the term radical Islamists use to signify the core of the Muslim world, centered on the holy city of Mecca. Al-Banna's family says that as far as they knew, Ra'ed was in Saudi Arabia working at a new job. But the voice on the other end sounded Iraqi, Ahmed says. "Congratulations," the caller told him. "Your brother has fallen a martyr."...
In some respects, the Bannas resemble the many other families around the Arab world whose sons have gone to fight and die in Iraq. But the Bannas also express astonishment that Ra'ed joined the insurgency, insisting that he had never shown signs of Islamic extremism or hatred for the West.
No one ever does, apparently. Just once I'd like to see one of these stories quote a neighbor or friend saying, "Yes, he hated America. He was always taking about getting his chance to die a shahid."
On the basis of accounts given by his family, friends and neighbors, Ra'ed apparently led a double life, professing affection for America while secretly preparing to join the holy war against the U.S. in Iraq. "Something went wrong with Ra'ed, and it is a deep mystery," says his father Mansour, 56. "What happened to my son?"
Read it all.
Double life my ass. That's a classic example of al-taqiyya (lying for the sake of Islam).
Eleven people, including six Americans working for a North Carolina private security firm, were killed Thursday when a commercial helicopter was shot down by missile fire from insurgents north of the Iraqi capital, officials said.
Bulgaria's Defense Ministry said the Russian-made helicopter was downed by missile fire and the victims included a three-member Bulgarian crew. Two Fijian helicopter security guards were also on board the flight.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the six Americans were employees of Blackwater Security Consulting - a subsidiary of Moyock, N.C.-based Blackwater USA - and were assisting the Bureau of Diplomatic Security in protecting American diplomats in Iraq.
"They played a critical role in our effort to bring a better way of life to the people of a country who have not experienced freedom and opportunity for many years," Ereli said.
The Islamic Army in Iraq has claimed responsibility and posted video it claims is of the wreckage. Shocking footage of the terrorists shows them discovering a survivor of the crash (whom analysts say is one of the Bulgarians); and shooting him dead as he struggled to get to his feet while they screamed “Allah Akhbar.”
You can find a link to the unedited, uncensored video at the bottom of In the Bullpen's post. It's graphic and horrifying and none of the MSM networks that endlessly broadcast video and photos of Abu Ghraib will dare to show the execution on TV.
The message that accompanied the video said the American was murdered in retaliation for Muslims who were killed in Fallujah.
It does no good here for me to say this is in clear violation of the Geneva Convention. Obviously the jihadis do not care about the Geneva Convention.
Yeah, who cares that the terrorists don't have to adhere to the rules our soldiers do? They're not in uniform, they don't represent any country...
The video begins with an unseen cameraman breathing heavily and running with the camera toward burning wreckage. Two bodies are visible, one of them severely charred, nearly all its clothes burned away.
“Look at that filth,” someone says in Arabic at the sight of the body. There are brief glimpses of a man carrying an assault rifle along with the cameraman.
The scene moves to tall grass, where a man with thinning, gray hair and wearing a blue flight suit is lying on his back, the right side of his head bloody.
“Stand up! Stand up!” the cameraman shouts to him in English.
“I can’t, it’s broken. Give me a hand,” the survivor says in accented English, raising his hands for help. “Give me your hand,” he repeats.
It appears the militants help pull him to his feet. “Weapons?” the gunmen shout at him in Arabic.
The cameraman tells the crewman, whose face is visible, to step back.
“Go! Go!” he shouts.
The survivor then tries to walk, limping with his back to the insurgents, who then say something to him that makes him turn around. He raises his hands to somebody off camera as if gesturing to them to stop what they are about to do.
The militants open fire, continuing to shoot him after he fell to the ground as someone shouts “Allahu Akbar.”
This is a clear example of the animals we are fighting against....and look at the animals we're fighting against at home (Daily Kos):
THESE F[**]KERS ARE NOT NICE PEOPLE. I have a hard time feeling sorry for their families. I have known a few of these wives and if they are in the marriage they are so high on Prozac and Xanax they will barely know he’s gone…If one of their mommas is crying I’m somewhat sorry but I really want to ask that woman why she never got any help for her son, who was obviously a potential serial killer! I lay some of what that man became on her and his father’s doorstep. I have almost no tears for these people. I can barely squeeze one out.
When my son was in Iraq, I was attacked pretty consistently about the contractors who are working over there. As In the Bullpen notes:
I too have met the wife of a contractor and she was completely nice but paranoid. Why was she paranoid? Read my post and find out. It has nothing to do with where her husband is stationed.
I see no reason why any of us should tolerate this communist crap of people siding with the enemy and the grisly crimes the terrorists are committing not only against our men in uniform, but the contractors who are there to do a job; helping the Iraqis build a better Iraq.
For those who believe that pacifist bull that Communism is a peaceful religion and the "pacifists" are the Marxists, read what Marx himself had to say about bloodshed:
In this interview with Karl Marx in the Chicago Tribune, January 5 1879 he said: "Well, then, to carry out the principles of socialism do its believers advocate assassination and bloodshed?" "No great movement," Karl answered, "has ever been inaugurated Without Bloodshed."
hehehe some Marxist whynot is...he's either in denial over what the guy represents, or he's lying. Either way, the truth is out there, you just have to look for it.
Engels had contempt for everyone, even his fellow germans
What he says below is actually pretty good compared to what he says about other nationalities
Marx to J.P. Becker, 26 Feb., 1862: "You should know that the Germans, young and old, are merely self-important, solid men of a practical bent, who consider people like you and me immature fools who still have not been cured of their revolutionary delusions. And the domestic riff-raff is as bad as the foreign kind. (…) Add to that their spent souls - a good thrashing is the only way to resurrect the German Joe (…)"
The German
Marx an Johann Philipp Becker, 26. Februar 1862
„Sie müssen wissen, daß die Deutschen, jung und alt, lauter überkluge, gediegene, praktisch einsichtige Männer sind, die Leute wie Sie und mich für unreife Narren halten, die immer noch nicht von der Revolutionsphantasterei geheilt sind. Und so schlimm wie im Ausland ist das inländische Gesindel. (...) Dazu diese Seelenmattigkeit -- Prügel ist das einzige Resurrektionsmittel für den deutschen Michel (...)
"The plentiful meat and milk diet among the Aryans and the Semites, and particularly the beneficial effects of these foods on the development of children, may, perhaps, explain the superior development of these two races."
No Marxist has dared to put this online yet so I cannot provide a link for context. The quotation is from Engels, "Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State", Fourth revised edition, 1891, in Marx & Engels, Selected Works In One Volume, Lawrence & Wishart: London, 1980, p 464.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Two green Adopt-A-Highway signs reading “American Nazi Party” have popped up on a rural road a few miles from downtown, and it’s got people upset with the county for agreeing to put up the signs and worried about their neighborhood.
“I know we live in a free world. But that’s not part of freedom, anything to do with the Nazis,” said Barbara Hamblin, a 64-year-old who lives in a mobile home park just down the road from one of the signs.
“They had to have been off their rocker,” she said.
The two signs were erected by Marion County road crews earlier this week, costing taxpayers $250 each.
County officials said they know people are upset. But free-speech guarantees in the Constitution prevented them from turning down the person who signed the American Nazi Party up with the local Adopt-A-Highway program.
The name of the organization that adopted the highway was also in big letters. Here it is.
“NAMBLA INC.”
Then it said, “KEEP ILLINOIS CLEAN.”
Seeing the NAMBLA name up there irritated Broehl. He served on police departments in the northwest suburbs until he left to become a homicide detective in Atlanta. Cops know what it stands for.
NAMBLA stands for the North American Man-Boy Love Association. According to news articles and the group’s Web site, it advocates changing those old-fashioned laws about sex with minors, including very young kids. It advocates pedophilia.
The only time pedophiles should be cleaning highways is when they are accompanied by prison guards and wearing leg-irons and bright orange uniforms. Pedophiles should never be released from prison. They can’t be rehabilitated. There’s something inside them beyond repair.
But there they were on the highway–NAMBLA and KEEP ILLINOIS CLEAN.
“Our politicians all jumped to get publicity on that registered sex-offender law,” Broehl said, “even if the list includes some kid who was 17 and had sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend after school, he’s a sex offender. The politicians were all over it. But NAMBLA gets to adopt a highway. Fantastic.”
I think the Adopt A Highway program needs an overhaul if groups like this are allowed to get in. If you think that’s bad, look at the rest:
At an IDOT meeting, Martin said, one official told him that legally, NAMBLA might have the right to the sign, given a recent court case in Missouri in which the Ku Klux Klan retained its name on a similar adopt-a-highway sign on 1st Amendment grounds.
Martin called the official a lunatic and demanded a full review of the program. He also spoke in French to make himself perfectly clear.
“I’ve heard about the KKK in Missouri, but let me tell you, we won’t have NAMBLA signs on Illinois highways,” Martin told me. “They can sue. But there won’t be any NAMBLA signs.”
As we discuss the issue of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, it is critical that we not only understand what is going on in the world around us but that we also understand what the Bible clearly teaches about, life, death, pain, suffering, and the value of each human life.
First, The Bible teaches that we are made in the image of God and therefore, every human life is sacred (Genesis 1:26). In Psalm 139:13-16 we learn that each of us is fearfully and wonderfully made. God himself has knit us together in our mother's womb. We must be very important to Him if He has taken such care to bring us into existence.
Second, the Bible is very clear that God is sovereign over life, death and judgement.In Deuteronomy 32:39 The Lord says, "See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me, I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand." Psalm 139:16 says that it is God who has ordained all of our days before there is even one of them.Paul says essentially the same thing in Ephesians 1:11.
Third, to assist someone in committing suicide is to commit murder and this breaks God's unequivocal commandment in Exodus 20:13.
Fourth, God's purposes are beyond our understanding. We often appeal to God as to why some tragedy has happened to us or someone we know. Yet listen to Job's reply to the Lord in Job 42:1-3:
I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. [You asked,] 'Who is this that obscures My counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,things too wonderful for me to know.
We forget that our minds are finite and His is infinite. We cannot always expect to understand all of what God is about. To think that we can step in and declare that someone's life is no longer worth living is simply not our decision to make. Only God knows when it is time. In Isaiah 55:8-9 the Lord declares, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."
Fifth, our bodies belong to God anyway. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 6:15,19 that we are members of Christ's body and that we have been bought with a price. Therefore we should glorify God with our bodies. The only one to receive glory when someone requests doctor-assisted suicide is not God, not the doctor, not even the family but the patient for being willing to "nobly" face the realities of life and "unselfishly" end everyone else's misery. There is no glory for God in this decision.
Lastly, suffering draws us closer to God. In light of the euthanasia controversy, listen to Paul's words from 2 Corinthians 1:8:
We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
Not only does He raise the dead but there is nothing that can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38). For an inspiring and thoroughly biblical discussion of the euthanasia issue, read Joni Earickson Tada's book When is it Right to Die? (Zondervan, 1992). Her testimony and clear thinking is in stark contrast to the conventional wisdom of the world today. We must do the same. What Will You Do? What Can You Do?
The Christian Medical and Dental Society has produced an excellent resource on physician-assisted suicide titled The Battle for Life.(9) As a part of the package they provide several cases to test your grasp of the principles involved and to help Christians be aware of the tough decisions that have to be made. I would like to share two of those with you and then discuss what you can do now to combat the "right to die" forces in this country.
Here is test case one:
Your 80 year-old grandmother has been fighting cancer for some time now and feels the emotional strain. She feels like she'll become a burden to the family. Her doctor notes that she seems to have lost her desire to live. Should she be able to have her doctor give her a prescription expressly designed to kill her?
This is precisely what the courts have legalized in recent months and precisely what God's word says is wrong. It is wrong because it would be taking her life into our hands and violating God's sovereignty. Because physician-assisted suicide goes beyond letting someone die naturally to actually causing the death, it violates God's commandment, You shall not murder. There is a clear distinction between allowing death to take its natural course in someone who is clearly dying with no hope of a cure, and taking specific measures to end someone's life. There comes a time when the body is imminently dying. Bodily functions begin to shut down. At this point, people should be made as comfortable as possible, be supported and encouraged by their family and doctors, and allowed to die. This is death with dignity. Taking a lethal injection or breathing poisonous carbon monoxide takes life out of God's hands and into our own.
Test case number two:
Your spouse has an incurable fatal disease, has lost control of bodily functions and is unable to communicate. Special treatment and equipment can extend your spouse's life for a few weeks or even months but will involve much pain and exhaustion. Would it be morally right for you to not arrange for the treatment?
Many would accept a decision not to arrange for treatment because that would not be killing but simply allowing death to take its natural course. Such decisions are not always clear-cut, however, and a physician and family members must take into account the pros and cons of intervention versus a faster natural death. Sometimes we rationalize that we need to keep the patient alive as long as possible because God may still work a miracle. But just how much time does God need to work a miracle? If God is going to intervene He will do so on His time and not ours.
Now that we have a better understanding of the issues, you may be wondering just what we can do about this threat among us. Three things:
Pray - Pray that God will turn the hearts of people back to Himself and back to protecting life. Pray for righteousness and justice in our legal system, that we enact laws that preserve life, punish the guilty and protect the innocent.
Speak Out - Present this information to other groups. Talk with your friends and family and discuss the reasons for protecting life.Contact your state and federal legislators and tell them to stand against physician-assisted suicide.
Reach Out - Visit the elderly, care for those who can't care for themselves, comfort the sick. Consider joining or starting a church ministry to the elderly, handicapped, or other individuals with special needs. As Christians we must lead the way with our hearts and actions and not just our words. If we devote our energies to providing quality and loving care and effective pain control, the euthanasia issue will die from a lack of interest.
1. "Why is Life Worth Living: An Overview of Physician-Assisted Suicide." The Battle for Life: An Educational Resource Kit. Christian Medical and Dental Society, P.O. Box 5, Bristol TN 37621. 1996.
2. Cited in "Kevorkian going on trial on assisted-suicide charge," The New York Times, 12 Feb. 1996, National Report, A8.
3. C. Everett Koop. The Surgeon General on Euthanasia. Presbyterian Journal. Sept. 25, 1985:8.
4. David Cundiff. 1992. Quoted in review of Euthanasia is NOT the Answer: A Hospice Physician's View by Debbie Decker. CURRENTS in Science, Technology, and Society. 1(2):20.
5. Jack Kevorkian. 1990. Quoted in "Kevorkian: A Glimpse into the Future of Euthanasia?" by Sarah Sullivan. Christian Research Journal 18(4)23-27, 1996.
6. R. Finigsen. 1991. "The Report of the Dutch Committee on Euthanasia." Issues in Law and Medicine 7:339-44.
P.J. van der Maas. 1991. "Euthanasia and Other Medical Decisions Concerning the End of Life." Lancet 338:669-74.
7. "California's Proposition 161 and Euthanasia." 1992. CURRENTS in Science, Technology, and Society 1(2):11. Published by Access Research Network, P.O. Box 38069, Colorado Springs, CO 80937-8069.
8. Robin Bernhoft, M.D. 1995. Quoted in Euthanasia: False Light. Produced by IAETF, P.O. Box 760, Steubenville, OH 43952. Running time: 14:48.
9. The Battle for Life is an educational resource kit produced by the Christian Medical and Dental Society. The Kit includes an award winning video, Euthanasia: False Light, a leader's presentation guide with discussion questions, handouts for Christian and secular audiences, overhead transparencies, Biblical principles summary, research synopsis, cassette tape of public service announcements, and bulletin inserts. The Kit is available from the Christian Medical and Dental Society, P.O. Box 5, Bristol, TN 37621, Phone (615) 844-1000, FAX: (615) 844-1005. The retail price for the complete kit is $30. The Kit can also be purchased through Probe Ministries.
A muslim buys land next to a pig farm in Katy,Texas. The pig farm wasn't a secret, he knew it was there. Muslim has plans to build a mosque there even though there are over 60 mosques in the area. Once he got ownership of the land, the muslim demands that the pig farm owner either move his farm, or get rid of his pigs. The pig farmer has offered to buy the land from the muslim, but the muslim refuses.
So the pig farmer scheduled pig races during Friday prayers.
See the video 
This is Idema with Colonel Gary Rohen on a Special Forces Counter-Terrorist Team. Both are carrying SFM16’s with 203 Grenade Launchers, PVS-5 Night Vision Goggles and Browning Fast Action pistols. Rohen is now the Deputy Director of the FBI’s Counter-Terrorist Watch and was in constant contact with Jack Idema during his latest mission in Afghanistan. Rohen was supposed to deploy with TASK FORCE SABER 7 to Afghanistan but was pulled from the mission for medical reasons.
