Jailhouse Jack took Delhi connection

[seemslikeadream]

MASEEH RAHMAN

Posted online: Monday, September 27, 2004 at 0211 hours IST

.........

From the rest of his testimony, it was obvious that the reference was to the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) under the control of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Before coming to Kabul on his latest visit (he has been to Afghanistan earlier via Central Asia to team up with the Northern Alliance), he said he ‘‘went to the Indian Embassy in Washington, where I was told it would take six days to issue a visa’’.

He brags he pulled strings. ‘‘A senior official in the Department of Defence then requested the military attache, a general, in the Indian Embassy to issue me a visa,’’ Idema said. ‘‘After a conversation with the Consul about how Afghans and Indians both disliked the ISI (Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency), I got my visa,’’ he added. ‘‘One of the reasons we were flying to Kabul from New Delhi was to prevent the ISI from tracking us,’’ claimed Idema.

The American was well looked after in Delhi. With a flourish, his defence lawyer from New York, John E. Tiffany, produced a Hotel Ashok bill to prove that Idema, Bennett and Caraballo stayed at the ITDC establishment as guests of Ariana Afghan Airlines on April 12 and 13.

He also produced three Delhi-Kabul Ariana ticket jackets. Curiously, the one which was said to be Idema’s was minus the counterfoil—so the passenger’s name was missing, though the serial numbers tallied with the other two tickets issued to Bennett and Caraballo.

Idema’s arrival at Kabul Airport was nothing short of flamboyant. A video played in court showed the three Americans being warmly welcomed on the tarmac by senior Afghan officials, including Kabul’s chief of police.

more
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=55924

[Elidor]

1. I would love for some intrepid reporter to confirm

That Idema is part of the Pentagon Special-Access Program discussed in the early chapters of Hersh's 'Chain of Command.' It would be a mortal blow to the Bush maladmin. And he seems to fit into the general scheme of the SAP.

[seemslikeadream]

2. The Mysterious Case of Jack Idema:

The Mysterious Case of Jack Idema: Was the Former Green Beret a Bounty Hunter for the US in Afghanistan?

Two weeks ago an Afghan court convicted two former U.S. soldiers and an Emmy Award-winning journalist and sentenced them to 8-10 years in prison for torturing Afghan prisoners in an illegal, private jail. Their U.S. attorneys are accusing the Afghan court system of conducting a sham trial. At the trial the attorneys attempted to introduce video evidence that indicates one of the defendants, Jonathan "Jack" Idema had close ties to the Pentagon and made personal calls to the office of Gen. William "Jerry" Boykin, who has a history of leading special operations. But the Afghan judge refused to play the video. Today, in a broadcast exclusive, we air these tapes and speak with an attorney in the case, the brother of the jailed journalist as well as officials from the Pentagon and inside Gen. Boykin's office.

We're going to spend the hour today looking at a story that hasn't gotten much attention here in the United States. Last Wednesday, a court in Afghanistan convicted three Americans of torturing Afghans in an illegal private prison. The alleged ring leader of the operation is a former Green Beret named Jonathan "Jack" Idema. He was sentenced to 10 years, as was another former US soldier Brent Bennett. An Emmy-award winning journalist who spent extensive time filming the men received an 8-year sentence. On the surface, the story appears to be a case of private bounty hunters operating independently. In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: "The Afghan government held the trial in accordance with Afghan law. Their decision was handed down by an Afghan court after a full trial had been conducted."

But Jack Idema, the former Green Beret tells a very different story. He says he was working with the US military with the approval of the Pentagon and the Afghan government. His lawyers have produced videotape showing Idema meeting with several key commanders of the Northern Alliance. Among them, the commanders of the Northern Front, the Southern Front and a number of commanders from Eastern Afghanistan. The tapes also show Idema meeting with the Afghan Minister of Defense Marshal Fahim. On the tape, Idema is describing to the Minister an assassination plot against Fahim that Idema says he has uncovered. Idema also had in his possession a letter of introduction addressed to an Afghan commander. The letter was on army stationary and signed by a New York based officer.

During the trial Idema's attorney planned to play a video shot by Caballero as part of his documentary project in an attempt to establish a connection between Idema and the Pentagon.

But the judge ordered the screening to be stopped before a portion that purportedly shows Idema calling the office of the controversial General William Boykin. In the video, Idema speaks with a Pentagon employee named Jorge Shim who promised someone from the DIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, would call Idema back on his cell phone.

more
http://www.pacifica.org/programs/dn/040923.html

[sofa king]

3. "Heh--dude! I got this great idea for like, a movie."

"You pretend like you're a DIA guy and I'll pretend I'm doing a documentary and we'll go to Afghanistan and like get high as fuckin' monkeys shoot some people and make some connections. Then we come back and use the movie to launder all that phat drug money we make. If we get busted, like, everyone will think that we work for someone else."

"Yeah... but what if we get busted, and everyone thinks we work for someone else, and thinks we're not their problem?"

"Shiiiit, dude! What are the chances of that happening?"