That's him in the middle.
Posted on 07/08/2004 1:21:25 PM PDT by jjm2111
Afghan forces arrested three Americans, including a purported former Green Beret, after raiding a jail they were allegedly running in the Afghan capital and finding prisoners hanging from their feet, officials said Thursday.
The U.S. military, facing a widening inquiry into prisoner abuse, quickly distanced itself from the three, who had been posing as American agents before being detained Monday. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday "the U.S. government does not employ or sponsor these men."
Afghan officials also dismissed claims by the apparent ringleader, Jonathan K. Idema, that he was a "special adviser" to their security forces, saying the three had posed as military agents on a self-appointed hunt for terrorists.
The Americans and four Afghans who were detained along with them "formed a group and pretended they were fighting terrorism," Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said. "They arrested eight people from across Kabul and put them in their jail."
Another Afghan security official said intelligence and police officials who raided the group's house Monday found the prisoners strung up by their feet.
"They were hanging upside down," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said a report showed the men also were beaten.
Jalali said the Americans had no "legal link" to any Afghan or other authorities.
Still, officials said they were seen regularly around Kabul wearing military uniforms and armed with assault rifles.
Idema, described in media reports as an ex-special forces operative known as "Jack," first appeared in Afghanistan (news - web sites) in late 2001, when U.S. and allied Afghan forces routed the Taliban.
He featured prominently in a top-selling book, "The Hunt for Bin Laden," which says he fought for 10 months alongside the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.
He also offered his services to Western television networks, including an apparent al-Qaida training video.
On Thursday, police gave an Associated Press reporter a business card apparently handed out by Idema.
The card bears an Afghan flag with a small Stars-and-Stripes at its center and a Northern Alliance flag. "Special Adviser" is printed on the bottom and "Jack" is scrawled in the Dari language at the top. None of the three phone numbers worked.
In Washington, Boucher confirmed Idema was one of the men in custody and identified another as Brent Bennett. He gave no other details.
One police official said Idema's group appeared to be behind the disappearance of a man in west Kabul three weeks ago.
The missing man was identified as Abdul Latif, and his wife told authorities she believed he had been taken into custody by members of the NATO (news - web sites)-led force that patrols the capital, said the police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
He said three foreigners, dressed in military uniforms, returned to the house earlier this week, where police confronted them.
He said a man called Jack told the officers he had orders to arrest a terrorist before he could blow himself up in a government building. The three said they belonged to "an important network," but gave no other details, the police official said.
Jalali said all eight prisoners found Monday were released. It was not clear how long they had been held.
There was no sign of Latif, however, at his house in a quiet residential street of Kabul's Khoshal Khan district.
Two men who answered the door Thursday said they were refugees who had returned recently from Iran and the previous tenant's wife had recently moved out.
Idema and the two others were seized by Afghan police and intelligence officers in downtown Kabul on Monday. Jalali said the men were operating in Kabul under the guise of working for an export company.
On Thursday, uniformed Afghan intelligence officers refused to admit reporters into the house where the eight prisoners had been found in the city's Kart-e-Parwan district, which was barely visible over a high wall topped with barbed wire.
Residents said foreigners had lived there and they had noticed nothing suspicious.
The U.S. military took the unusual step Monday — before news of his detention was widely known — of distancing itself from Idema, saying in a statement: "The public should be aware that Idema does not represent the American government and we do not employ him."
A spokeswoman would give no details of Idema's activities, insisting Afghan authorities were leading the investigation.
U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Beth Lee said Thursday the Americans had been visited by U.S. officials, but she had no information on whether the United States had sought to take them into custody.
Associated Press Writer Stephen Graham in Kabul contributed to this report.
He helped write the Book "The Hunt For Bin Laden" along with the author [I cannot think of his name] of the book "Green Berets".
I remember seeing this Idema character on Imus/MSNBC promoting the book.
That's him in the middle.
There's a lot of controversy about the accuracy of that book.
This too sounds suspicious.
See?? Lots of 40-somethings would love to help in the WOT, "one way or the other."
Looks like they should have accepted the one way. ;-)
I know this guy. He is absolutely, completely a fraud. Even the stuff in Robin Moore's book about him is mostly fiction -- HE was Robin's researcher's sole source for it. In fact, wanted posters of him were posted in Bagram for months, directing the MPs and USAF SPs to grab him, before the Afghans finally bagged him.
He's a felon. Go to www.bop.gov and search for Jonathan Keith Idema in the inmate locator. He did five years inside, on top of whatever part of his sentence was paroled. (Wire Fraud).
He has represented himself as an Army major, a special forces operator, a former member of the unit known as Delta, and a member of US intelligence agencies. And I can say with 100% certainty that these claims are all untrue. He did serve briefly in the Army special forces - 15-20 years ago. He was caught stealing in Phase I of training. He was barred from re-enlistment as a result of other misconduct. He then showed up in the Reserves, with his bad paper from active duty miraculously missing from his file. He left there under a cloud also.
He is a legend in his own mind who has been in Afghanistan on and off since 2001 and a long list of NGOs, REAL SF operators, and REAL intelligence agencies have been looking for him, on a "not to interfere" basis with other missions. I would bet money that at least one of the phone numbers on his card belongs to a satellite phone that he borrowed from a Knights of Malta sponsored charity three years ago -- they are still looking for it.
Let's let the NDS hang on to him and do their investigation. If it turns out he has committed crimes under Afghan law, well, when he gets out he can write a book on comparative penology: from the inmate viewpoint.
The USG does not generally post wanted posters (complete with a mis-spelling, so you know a GI made it!) of its agents conducting "black ops." If any.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
His full name (as the Bureau of Prisons will cheerfully confirm, not to mention enough legal filings to choke John Edwards) is Jonathan Keith Idema. He has always gone by "Keith" to friends (?) and family and the world at large. Starting with Afghanistan, he went all candle-stein with "Jack."
In Robin Moore's "Hunt for Bin Laden" he is referred to by about three variations on his name.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
To hear a guy use different takes on his name sets off alarm bells for me.
He featured prominently in a top-selling book, "The Hunt for Bin Laden," which says he fought for 10 months alongside the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.
Yeah. These are the kinds of shoe-scrape we'd have all over the Middle East if that idiot Ron Paul's plan of chasing bin Laden with Letters of Marque and Reprisal hadn't been laughed out of Congress.
Kindly note Criminal Number 18F's report on Mr. Idema. It seems that he's done hard time in the States.
Yeah, I read it when it first came out.
Great blow by blow of the initial stages of the War in Afghanistan, especially the destruction of Taliban forces trying to retake a town just north of Khandahar that had driven the small Taliban controllers out. But it taipers off into my service's Johnson is longer than yours and the A-typical Caucasian, Male, Dramaqueen [sorry but it's true] chest thumping/excuse making once it becomes clear that Bin Laden wont be snagged right away.
Started out great...but I never finished it.
Thanks for the information.
"As always, should you, or any of your IM Force, be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of the matter."
Well, mostly he's been Keith. But I suppose if I had done hard time I might have an alias or two also!
He'll be back on the talk shows I'm sure. But it might be a few years. I don't think the Afghans would behead him (although if he is responsible for the disappearance of Abdul Latif, and Latif is dead, all bets are off).
I do notice that these mercenaries and soldier of fortune types very often had less than sterling service records. Some are deserters; I think Costas Georghiou ("Col. Callan" of Angola -- now I am dating myself) was a dishonourable discharge after court-martial from the British Army. At the rank of Corporal, IIRC.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/Investigation/phony_sergeant_040707-1.html
At least Keith did go to Special Forces school, and ultimately graduated, even if he never worked out on a team afterward...
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
I love FR.
I guess my original assesment was WAY wrong. I hate phony baloney military types; with a passion. A guy who drives a truck is more my brother that some wannabe SEAL. Bah! Thanks for the info
Thanks.
Very interesting and useful.
What was the bounty on bin Laden?
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