concatenation of events

Waging war on journalists who lie. Exposing the truth about Jack Idema, whose story must be told.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Catching up...

Well we're catching up and eghad what a lot of news has happened with Idema and co. since I went on holiday. Brent Bennett was under seige, Jack Idema unable to reach him because he himself was under attack from soldiers whom they couldn't seem to identify.

This is the Free Jack Idema blogburst from 10/4

Jack4.jpg

It’s been an amazingly busy week in terms of developments in the campaign to free Jack Idema and Captain Brent Bennett, the U.S. Special Forces soldiers illegally imprisoned in Afghanistan. Not only has a great deal taken place since last Thursday, but there has also been a fair amount of misinformation given out in MSM. Accordingly, what I’d like to do is present an accurate timeline of events. All of the information below comes directly from Jack Idema himself, speaking via Cao’s Blog and the SuperPatriots, who are U.S. Special Forces soldiers working in the campaign to help Jack and Brent.

Tuesday 26th September: Two cells, numbers 2 and 10, are cleared of Afghan prisoners at the Tawab Keef prison near the U.S. Embassy in Kabal. Everyone at Tawab Keef is informed that these cells are to be used to hold Jack and Brent, in solitary confinement and without the Northern Alliance guards who currently protect them at Pulacharke.

Thursday 28th September: Jack and Brent are invited to take their evening meal with the Commandant of Pulacharke prison. This isn’t an unusual occurrence by itself, but Jack isn’t feeling well and declines the invitation. This, oddly, sparks a flurry of phone calls to Jack, begging him to attend the dinner. Brent finally agrees to attend without Jack.

When Brent arrives at the dinner, he becomes suspicious, and calls Jack, telling him he has the feeling he’s about to be ambushed. Jack tells Brent to just get up and leave.

Brent calls Jack a second time, telling him that he’s now being prevented from returning to his quarters. Idema then tries to reach Brent, but finds himself locked in his quarters — An unusual occurrence, since the ordinary Northern Alliance guards usually trust Jack not to leave the prison.

25 soldiers surround Brent during the ‘dinner’ and arrest him.

40 soldiers attempt to storm Jack’s compound at the prison. Having survived more than a dozen assassination attempts, however, Jack is prepared to defend himself. He kicks a large can of gasoline down the stairs toward the advancing troops and lights his Zippo. They quickly withdraw.

Friday 29th September: Luckily, Lieutenant Banderas was not in the prison at this time, and managed to contact a group of Northern Alliance generals. They, in turn, used their political muscle to force the troops surrounding Jack’s compound to stand down. Brent Bennett, however, remains in custody, whereabouts unknown.

Saturday 30th September: The next we here from Brent is at this point, when the press begin reporting that he has been ‘released’ and is on his way back to the States, accompanied by US State Department officials. In fact Brent was in custody, handcuffed, and forced to leave Afghanistan and Jack Idema behind. The intention, it seems, was to transport Bennett, presumably back to the US, but certainly out of Afghanistan, and certainly against his will. This ‘Plan B’ was necessary because the State Department and Karzai had failed to capture Jack Idema — For their ‘Plan A’ to work, they needed both men locked down and silenced in Tawab Keef prison. Since this hadn’t happened, they decided to force Brent out of the country, then, we presume, try again to capture Jack.

When Brent and his handlers arrived in Dubai, however, the immigration police refused to accept custody of Brent’s passport and handed the documents from the State Department officials back to Brent. Brent Bennett then promptly gave his captors the slip and, according to Cao: ‘Is now somewhere, but not on the way back to the US’.

Finally, there’s this, from Dan at SuperPatriots:

Bennett family: Brent is fine, no thanks to the US State Department. A teammate of ours spoke to him. He is no longer in State Department custody [at least no physical custody, although under the law he clearly is suffering exceptional liberty restraints], and the information on Cao’s blog can be confirmed. He says he cannot make contact right now for reasons we can’t go into. Actually I should say he is not just fine, he is safe and continuing to support his teammates from an undisclosed location. Jack and Zorro are also fine, facing continued assaults by the State Department, but in good spirits and holding out while the dust settles. Rumor is that certain members of the Afghan govt are not happy about the State Department and FBI using Afghan forces for an illegal operation and attempted illegal extradition of Americans. Kabul TV announced tonight that the Supreme Court admitted the men had been innocent all along.

So, yes, it’s been one hell of a week.
New-Brent-NYPD Hat.jpg
So what can we do? Well, anyone reading this with their own blog can sign up for the weekly Free Jack Idema Blogburst by emailing Cao or Rottweiler Puppy for details. I’d urge everyone to do this, as we’re still terribly short on takers. If you want to know more about the story, Cao’s Blog has a large section devoted to Jack Idema. There’s also a timeline here, and, of course, a huge amount of information is available over at SuperPatriots, without whose work none of us would have learned about Jack’s story.

You can also contact the following people and make your feelings known:

Secret US EMBASSY Fax: - 301-560-5729
(Local US Fax: Goes RIGHT TO Ambassador)
c/o US Ambassador Ronald Neuman
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: The SuperPatriots and Jack images on this site are used with WRITTEN COPYRIGHT PERMISSION and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US



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