Free Republic

Tin SoldierAn American Vigilante In Afghanistan, Using the Press for Profit and Glory By Mariah Blake In April 2004, a former U.S. Special Forces soldier named Jonathan Keith Idema started shopping a sizzling story to the media. He claimed terrorists in Afghanistan planned to use bomb-laden taxicabs to kill key U.S. and Afghan officials, and that he himself intended to thwart the attack. Shortly thereafter, he headed to Afghanistan, where he spent the next two months conducting a series of raids with his team, which he called Task Force Saber 7. By late June, he claimed to have captured the...

Thursday, June 12, 2003 The Times' Designated Man in the Street When the New York Times needs to find a man in the street to interview they never have to look very far - they have one on tap suitable for every occasion. Thanks to a sharp-eyed Ann Coulter, one Greg Packer has been outed as the media's designated man in the street - a role Mr. Packer has played more than 100 times, Coulter discovered. His latest assignment for the Times was to be the average man in the street in line waiting to buy Mrs. Clinton's newest work...