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November 23, 2005
Rendered Innocent - But Not Free
Jack Idema and his men have suffered immeasurably at the hands of the United States government over in Afghanistan for fighting the enemy. For some strange reason, American policy has now changed and left many of our operators out in the cold.
We are no longer going after our enemies to kill them; we have now instituted a policy of appeasement.
In the lurch are Jack Idema, Brent Bennett and Ed Caraballo, a blameless journalist who was only documenting what Jack was doing.
These men were charged in July with running a "torture chamber" when all they were doing was questioning men who were plotting to kill Qanooni, Fahim, and many other men who are, in fact real and true anti-Taliban, anti-terrorist American allies. The Karzai government has taken a position of appeasing the Taliban, allowing them to run in the elections, and releasing them from jails.
In the meantime, Idema and his men were charged with nonexistent crimes and put before a Taliban-lead kangaroo court and convicted, sentenced to 10 years, Caraballo to 8. Immediately after they were taken into custody, they were tortured at Saderat, the extreme interrogation compound with FBI agents laughing about it in the hallway.
Shortly after their [Jack and his team's] arrest, they were subjected to varying degrees of torture and interrogation, apparently determined by rank. Jack Idema was repeatedly beaten by, and in the presence of- Amrullah at NDS Headquarters, as was Lieutenant Rasuli. A palace official was personally aware of and authorizing, at a minimum, Idema's initial torture at NDS Headquarters by Amrullah, with FBI agents in close proximity and directing the interrogation. During the following days and nights Idema was tortured with boiling water, starvation, threats of death, and assault with various implements (such as wire cables and rubber whips), resulting in broken ribs, a separated sternum, torn rotator cuffs, hemorrhaged eyes, multiple concussions, lacerations, contusions, and bruises. Although the U.S. Embassy later had medical reports indicating the extent of the torture, Sandra Ingram, Assistant U.S. Consul DOS Kabul, ordered the reports rewritten to tone down the extent of the injuries.
John Tiffany and Jack Idema immediately appealed the 'guilty verdict'; and 5 Afghan appeals court judges rendered them INNOCENT in late March, early April of 2005.
They are still being held at the behest of the American government because apparently now the Northern Alliance is "unrecognized" and considered part of the "resistance". We have flipped sides in the middle of a conflict with SF operators and military personnel still on the ground.
We must demand from our government officials that these men be released. They have committed no crime.
We should also be questioning a dangerous policy of turning our backs on our allies.
They should be released from custody, they've been declared innocent by the Afghans, and have been recognized by the Afghans as having POW status.
We should be wondering why a Geneva Convention hearing with regard to their POW status which has been denied by the American government.
There should be a congressional hearing as to what has happened with regard to these men, and the people involved should be held responsible.
Write your representatives.
Write your representatives, your congressmen, the President, Condoleeza Rice, Director Mueller (FBI) and Ambassador Neumann (the new Ambassador to Afghanistan since this spring).
Contact information:
for Condoleeza Rice
Main address:
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Main Switchboard:
202-647-4000
TTY:
1-800-877-8339 (Federal Relay Service)
Send a message from their website to Condoleeza Rice, and be civil.
Send a message to the US Embassy in Kabul. The new Ambassador to Afghanistan is Ronald E. Neumann.
American Citizen Services
U.S. Embassy Kabul, Afghanistan
Phone: (+93-20) 230-0436
Mobile: (93) 070-20-1908
E-mail: usconsulkabul@state.gov
Ambassador Khalizad is now Ambassador to Iraq. Judging from his questionable track record in Afghanistan, I don't have a very high opinion of his work in Iraq, and now I have all kinds of questions as to what exactly we are accomplishing there, and under whose guiding influences.
Send a message to Director Mueller, the head of the FBI.
FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Call (202) 324-3000 or write to the following address:
Federal Bureau of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001
Also, we should inquire and write about Caraballo's status to the Society of Professional Journalists and why they haven't lifted a finger in Caraballo's case:
Maria Trombly
Chair, SPJ's International Journalism Committee
Work : (212) 931-0152, (413) 323-0842
maria@trombly.com
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 Cao from Cao's blog and tell her you want to join the Free Jack Idema blogburst. You will be added to the blogroll and she'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.
Cao 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.
These are the blogs so far who are participating:
"The SuperPatriots and Jack images on this site are used with written copyright permission and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US".
Wild Thing's comment...............
For more than 27 years Jack Idema has defended his country in Latin America, South America, Eastern Europe, Africa, the Mid-East, South East Asia, Central America, and finally, South West Asia. For more than a quarter of a century Jack has worked in counter-terrorists projects and activities which may never be known or written about but which have kept America and its allies free from oppressors and terrorists.
Posted by Wild Thing at November 23, 2005 01:21 AM
Comments
ROCK ON GIRL !
These guys need out, armed, and back hunting this SOB's that are cutting off our heads. Jack Idema may be one of the best unconventional warriors of the last TWO centuries. And guys like me on the ground in Afghanistan KNOW this is true. That's why the State Department hates him, because he gets results where others fail. 500 American soldiers owe their lives to him at Bagram Air Force Base and someone should be sending in FOIA requests for those classified documents that prove it.
Posted by: sfops2kabul at November 24, 2005 05:34 PM
Hi good to see you. Thank you so much and I thank you for all you do and for serving our country. HUGE Thank you to you!!!!
Posted by: Wild Thing at November 24, 2005 07:51 PM
