Wednesday : Half-way through the week, and today may be a semi-limited blogation day (again)
Weather : Hey, cool - it's snowing here in Northern VA! (~9AM) ... AccuWeather is not so Accu :)
Riley : My baby girl went potty "like a big girl" for the first time! End of diapers (hopefully) imminent! W00T!
Thursday : I am a total slacker, this is gonna be a two day post ... there is fresh content!
Friday : I've taken blog-slacking to a new level; make this a three day post ... again, some new stuff included :) ... in fact, if you know NIF you know this will be a limited blogation weekend - so this post will fly until Monday.
5 foot 2 and eyes of blue (the beer goggle blues) :
When I went out a wenching on a night as fair as this, I had some trouble finding me a fine and lovely miss. I went into a tavern and I spied there in a chair, a lady I would have to say was quite beyond compare.
She was 5 foot 2 with eyes of blue and weighed 500 pounds, and when she walked the ground would shake for miles and miles around. but she offered to buy me a drink and I said thank you Ma'am, and we ordered up another round and I began to slam.
We talked about the weather and we talked about her folks, I told her lovely stories and she told me dirty jokes We laughed and laughed and laughed some more, 'twas nice but had me thinking, that it would be much nicer still if we continued drinking. She was 5 foot 2 with eyes of blue and weighed 310 she seemed to be getting smaller so I blinked and looked again.*
I drank and drank and drank some more as I was in a hurry, the lady got much prettier as my vision got more blurry. And as we kept on drinking, well it was a shock to me, that slowly her huge hand had gone and crept up on my knee. She was 5 foot 2 with eyes of blue and weighed 183, and the more I had to drink you know, the better she looked to me. *
And as the evening went I grew more and more elated, that generally comes easy when you're so intoxicated. She charmed me with her whaly wiles and made me want to cry, As the hand that had been on my knee had crept up to my thigh. She was 5 foot 2 with eyes of blue the fairest in the city, By this time there were five of her but all of her were pretty*
I didn't want to leave the bar, I think that I was carried. I don't recall too much at all, except that now we're married. You ask me how I like the life, I say it's not too bad, 'cuz her father's a brewer, her mom's like her, and I get drunk with dad. Yes, her father's a brewer, her mom's like her, and I get drunk with dad.
Thursday : My schedule is a bit hurting; maybe new NIF later ... sorry!
Friday : As you can see, there was no new NIF yesterday. ... AND GUEES WHAT? None today either, Schedule today might just be worse than yesterday's. ... AND, in fact, NIF will be adrift for a few days ... the usual limited blogation weekend rules are in effect ... AND I am going out of town (heading up to Boston) Mon-Wed for a class ... so good chance of no NIF ... I will make atleast a half-hearted effort to post some updates, in the meantime - anyone wanna guest-post?
One of the biggest problems faced by U.S. Special Forces soldier Jack Idema and the his two compatriots, Brent Bennett and journalist Ed Caraballo is that mud sticks. We all know how this works: once a criminal accusation has been made, many people will feel there must have been some basis in fact for the charges. This is something, I think, that has worked against Jack Idema from the very start.
At the time of his arrest on charges of kidnapping and torture in July 2004, we will remember, the issue of how the U.S. treated captive Islamopaths was coming under intense scrutiny in the wake of Abu Gharib. It's also fair to say that, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, large sections of MSM and the left were pushing the idea that Lynndie England's antics were somehow sanctioned by U.S. authorities. In this context, the stories about Idema running a 'private' jail where prisoners were found hanging from the ceilings affected different people in different ways. But, crucially, no one wanted to hear the truth. Here's why:
For MSM:
The Idema story provided an opportunity to further the American-troops-as-torturers line they'd been peddling since the Abu Gharib story broke
Since many MSM journalists (Fox News, Dan Rather) had worked with Idema or (CBS, the BBC) used intelligence material he'd provided, there was a desire to distance themselves from Task Force Sabre 7
For leftists:
There was the narrative, sharpened by Abu Gharib, that U.S. soldiers routinely abuse prisoners. The accusations against Idema were something the left wanted to be true
For leftists, the idea that an American soldier could be a victim of 'oppressed' Muslims is anathema -- A U.S. soldier hanging Afghans from the ceiling, however, fits neatly into their accepted worldview, and no hard facts are required
For conservatives:
Abu Gharib was a propaganda victory against the war effort, and the Idema story must have looked to many conservatives as yet another embarrassment in the making
The (entirely false) accusations that Idema was a fraud with an invented military record stung many conservative -- No one likes to feel they've been had
This, then, explains why the Jack Idema story is something a great many people either refuse to touch or (in the case of leftists) actually regard as a victory.
The problem, of course, is that absolutely none of the mud being thrown at Idema actually sticks to him.
But. Still. Those allegations that Idema tortured prisoners remain. This is something we need to tackle head-on:
Idema, Bennett, and Caraballo were found innocent of all charges and Appeals Court Acting Chief Judge Saheb Noor along with Appeals Court Judges Abdul Latif (011-93-70287222- speaks English) and Chief Religious Judge Mawlawi Azizullah stated on the record during the closed hearing that there had been absolutely no evidence of torture and that the original two bomb suspects that gave statements against the team were in fact terrorists and had committed perjury in the first court hearing in July 2004.
These statements come from the Afghan appeals court which reviewed Jack, Brent and Ed's cases over a year ago. The court decided that the original trial was deeply flawed (to say the least), and that Idema and his men had no case to answer. (They remain in prison, illegally, at the insistence of the U.S. State Department.) What's clear, though, is that if there hadn't been such a rush to pre-judge Idema in the summer of 2004, most of the false allegations against him would have been disregarded. Here's why:
None of the terrorists brought in to accuse Idema of torture had any signs of injury
There was no evidence of torture in the safe-house Idema had been using to interrogate captured terrorists
It would not have even been physically possible to hang anyone from the ceiling of the house in question -- Afghan buildings are simply not robust enough to support a man's weight
Witnesses against Idema refused to swear on the Koran that their evidence was true -- They simply yelled accusations at Idema without being sworn-in
Many witnesses claimed Idema had held them in the basement of his safe-house, even though the building in question had no basement
I want to answer one thing for your listeners. Did I ever torture anybody? The answer is hell no! I never tortured anybody. You know why? Because if you’re Lynndie England and you’ve put some guy on a leash– a Muslim guy naked on a leash, I can guarantee you neither he nor his friends will ever cooperate. But if you if you take that guy in and you just keep him up for 2 days talking to him, and you give him kabob and you give him miranda soda, and you convince him that he’s got a job with you, believe me he is going to change sides. This is absolute.
The above quote comes from an interview Jack Idema gave last year. You can listen to the whole thing here. What's interesting about this, however, is that Idema simply doesn't come across as someone who engages in acts of petty sadism -- Not because he's a bleeding-heart liberal, but for the very good reason that, if it's actionable intelligence you're after, torture simply does not work.
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 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 Ph: 202-483-6410, Fax: no. 202-483-6488
Ambassador Massoud Khalili (wounded with Massoud) Islamic State of Afghanistan Embassy of Afghanistan New Delhi, India
H.E. Said Tayeb JAWAD (Afghan Ambassador- powerful in US) Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington 2341 Wyoming Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20008 Tel: (+1-202) 483 6414 Fax: (+1-202) 483 9523
Mr. Jahed Hamrah, Consul General (pro-Taliban) CONSULATE GENERAL OF AFGHANISTAN IN NEW YORK 360 Lexington Avenue, 11th Floor New York, New, York, NY 10017 Tel.: (+1-212) 972 2276 or 972 2277 Fax: (+1-212) 972 9046
Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld Secretary of Defense 1000 Defense Pentagon – Room # 3E880 Washington, DC 20301-1000 Ph: (703) 692-7100 Fax: (703) 697-9080
Lt General William Boykin Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence 1800 Defense Pentagon – Room # 3E836 Washington, DC 20301 Ph: (703) 697-0170 Private Fax: (703) 697-9080
Stephen Cambone Principle Deputy Secretary for Intelligence 1800 Defense Pentagon – Room # 3E Washington, DC 20310-0100
General Peter J. Shoomaker Chief of Staff, Department of the Army 200 Army Pentagon – Room # 3E528 Washington, DC 20310-0200 Ph: (703) 695-2077 / Fax: (703) 614-5268
The Honorable John D. Negroponte Director National Intelligence New Executive Office Building 725 17th Street, N.W., Room 4203 Washington, DC 20503
The Committee On Homeland Security U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515
Chairman Peter Hoekstra Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence H-405, U.S. Capitol Washington, DC 20515-6415; Office: (202) 225-4121 / Fax: (202) 225-1991 Toll Free: (877) 858-9040
M. Cherif BASSIOUNI Independent Expert of the Commission on Human Rights On the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights UNOG-OHCHR CH-1211 Geneva 10 Ph: +41(0)22 917 97 27 Fax: +41(0)22 917 90 18 Email
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
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. (Disclaimer copied from Cao)
NOTE: Patrons of this Blog are advised that they will be held responsible for any unlawful, harassing, libelous, abusive, threatening, or harmful material of any kind or nature posted by their respective ISP. Patrons are cautioned not to transmit via comments, including links to any material that encourages conduct that could constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law or regulation. (Disclaimer copied from Mustang)
Quick Thoughts * News * Interesting * Funny * Quote(s) of the Day * Closing
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