If you’re looking for pieces on Jack Idema and his team, please click on this link.

The entire TASK FORCE SABER 7 Team was declared innocent of all charges by the Afghan Second Court, which had granted a trial de novo (a new trial) in November 2004. Closed hearings took place between December 2004 and March 2005. All men were originally ordered released by the Appeals Court based on new evidence and the decision was endorsed by the Supreme Court of Afghanistan.

Three American Prisoners of War
Found Innocent of All Charges

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. Three men were already released in December after being found innocent and in mid-March 2005 all men were pronounced NOT GUILTY in the controversial case of Jack Idema and six other men alleged to be hunting terrorists, including Osama bin Laden. The Court and the accused originally agreed to delay announcement for ten days to prepare a press conference and presentation of the evidence. This was stopped at the orders of Ambassador Khalilzad who is now Ambassador to Iraq.

We should be asking some serious questions as to how and why Americans held for charges they were declared innocent of–could have been subjected to horrible torture like this after their arrest.

Shortly after their [Jack and his team’s] arrest, they were subjected to varying degrees of torture and interrogation, apparently determined by rank. Jack Idema was repeatedly beaten by, and in the presence of- Amrullah at NDS Headquarters, as was Lieutenant Rasuli. A palace official was personally aware of and authorizing, at a minimum, Idema’s initial torture at NDS Headquarters by Amrullah, with FBI agents in close proximity and directing the interrogation.

During the following days and nights Idema was tortured with boiling water, starvation, threats of death, and assault with various implements (such as wire cables and rubber whips), resulting in broken ribs, a separated sternum, torn rotator cuffs, hemorrhaged eyes, multiple concussions, lacerations, contusions, and bruises. Although the U.S. Embassy later had medical reports indicating the extent of the torture, Sandra Ingram, Assistant U.S. Consul DOS Kabul, ordered the reports rewritten to tone down the extent of the injuries.

So while the ACLU is complaining about the detention of terrrorists’ wives involving absolutely no injury, and filing habeas corpus petitions on behalf of terrorists like Jose Padilla, counter terrorist experts Jack Idema and Brent Bennett along with Ed Caraballo who is a completely innocent journalist, are still being held because of the American government standing in the way of their release.

(Photo credit: AP) Condoleezza Rice shakes hands with Afghan President Hamid Karzai after a press conference at Claridges, London

Condi Rice had a meeting with Karzai, saying the American government is resolute in standing by them to continue to fight the Taleban and will not abandon the Afghans the way we did during their war with the Soviets. From yesterday’s article at VOA

The secretary promised there would be no repeat of the situation that followed the end of the Russian occupation of Afghanistan in 1989, when Western governments turned their attention elsewhere and the country was left to the Taleban and al-Qaida.

“The United States has a robust commitment to Afghanistan, militarily, politically, economically,” Rice said. “And we are going to continue that robust presence, because as long as the people of Afghanistan need American partnership, they’re going to have it. We made the mistake once before of leaving Afghanistan, and not only did Afghans pay for it, but Americans paid for it on September 11 [2001]. We’re not going to make that mistake again.”

Jack Idema and his men are still paying for it, and the question is WHY??? It is high time they were released.

The SuperPatriots and Jack images on this site are used by Cao’s Blog with written copyright permission and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US

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Taleban terrorists torched three schools in Kandehar, adding another attack on educating the people of Afghanistan to the list.

1,000 boys and girls studied at these newly built schools, but they were gutted last week, said provincial education chief Mohammad Qasim.

“I can say that the Taleban were behind this,” Qasim said, adding that no one was hurt in the attacks.

But this should serve as no surprise, since the Taleban banned girls from school during their rule, children were forbidden to even fly kites in the street.

Taleban terrorists seem particularly interested in terrorizing teachers–as a Taleban gunmen dragged a teacher from his classroom and shot him at the gates of his school in December after he’d ignored warnings to stop teaching boys and girls, and also in December, gunmen shot and killed an 18-year-old male student and a guard at another school in Helmand. The gunmen opened fire on teachers and said they would be killed unless the schools were shut down, police said.

In Zabul province, also in the south, a teacher was dragged from his home and beheaded, also in December.

The Taleban is determined to reinstate their policy of no education in order to keep the people poor. We take so much for granted here in the United States–each day I see hoards of children waiting for the bus in order to go to school, and most people here in the US are literate. Not so in Afghanistan, thanks to the Taliban. In the North, these things aren’t happening–only in the Pashtun/Taleban controlled South, where Karzai comes from.

Afghans who travel to the United States are simply enthralled and amazed when they see things like scanning machines in grocery stores that read the bar codes–to them, it seems like magic.

Kender has the breaking news.

At New York’s Kennedy airport today, an individual later discovered to be a public school teacher was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a setsquare, a slide rule, and a calculator. At a morning press conference, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he believes the man is a member of the notorious al-gebra movement. He is being charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.

Read the rest.

It’s up! And it’s the special Jack Bauer edition.

ONE YEAR

365 days ago, John Kerry promised, on national TV , to sign form SF-180 and release his military records. He has yet to do so.

255 days ago, John Kerry signed form SF-180 to release his military records. When will we see the records? Will the Globe post the documents? Will Kerry release the 180 so we can see exactly what he authorized for release (and to whom)? Polipundit asks, ‘Where are the missing pages?’ Mark at USS Neverdock asks, ‘Did Kerry sign Part III of the Form 180?’ Scott Johnson at Powerline says, “something is missing from his file.” Captain Ed says: “This release by Kerry still doesn’t answer key questions about what he’s claimed about his service..”

So Senator Kerry, it’s been a whole year for you to find that pen and the correct line on the form to sign. All we know now is that George W. Bush isn’t quite the “idiot” you portrayed him to be during your last presidential campaign, because he got better grades than you did at Yale.

Isn’t it about time that you released those records to the public? After all, you are running for President again. Even if you weren’t running again, you’ve been a Senator holding the public trust for 20-something years. The public has a right to know.

Tip o’ me tam to Musing Minds

We’re one day early, but this year, January 30 falls on Monday…and not on Tuesday, which is the usual day for the Kerry 180 blogburst.

Image: LindaSog.com

Join the blogbursts to help FREE Kerry’s 180 every Tuesday!

We’ve formed a blogburst group and here are the bloggers who are contributing so far. If you want to join the blogroll for Free Kerry’s 180, click here to email me, include the url for your blog. The blogburst is every Tuesday, so don’t forget to blog about it. All you have to do is encourage Kerry to set his 180 FREE, I’ll send you the code for the blogroll.

The more people we have, the merrier!

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.

January 30, 2006 Guard the Borders Blogburst

By Heidi

This first month of 2006 has seen a spate of unprecedented media attention to on-going border breaches such as drug smuggling tunnels and Mexican Army incursions. Deceitful Mexican government officials have disavowed any knowledge of such breaches, instead presenting laughable theories of “American soldiers disguised as Mexicans”. Even our own Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, has covered for the Mexicans by dismissing border incursion as mere navigational “mistakes”. (He’s failed to comment on the gunfire from said “lost” Mexican soldiers.)

No one is fooled. Our border agents continue to risk their lives confronting heavily armed Mexican soldiers and smuggling gangs, while our own American citizens living on the border continue to petition our government for security - to no avail. Two American states, Arizona and New Mexico, have declared a state of emergency in their states, as the financial and societal obligation of caring for illegal immigrants crushes their economy and resources.

In four states, the two above plus Texas and California, the new majority is the Hispanic, though mostly illegal. Such a disparity between law-abiding, tax-paying American citizens has caused the unconscionable situation to develop that the minority now pays for the services and support of the majority.

In the meantime, trillions of American dollars flow out of our economy and into Mexico’s in the form of tax-free cash remittances from illegal labor. These cash disbursements are the largest form of income for the country of Mexico:

Remittances “are our biggest source of foreign income, bigger than oil, tourism or foreign investment,” Fox told reporters after a meeting with Mexican-American businessmen.

“The 20 million Mexicans in the United States generate a gross product that is slightly higher than the $600 billion generated by Mexicans in Mexico,” Fox said, adding that his country has the ninth-largest economy in the world.

“If we could add up the two products, Mexico would be the third or fourth economy in the world,” he said.

Three years later, the number of illegal Mexicans in America is higher than ever, their impact on U.S. social services even more draining, and the free income is flowing ever-faster into Mexico’s coffers. Think of it, their largest source of income costs them nothing in terms of infrastructure, research and development, education, and social services! They export their poorest, neediest citizens (at no cost to themselves) and sit back to wait for the free income to flow. No wonder they feel the need to ease their citizens’ illegal entry into America by providing handbooks and maps - it has a direct impact on their economy! What other income-producing activity could they undergo that would require no construction, no training, no law enforcement, and no responsibilities whatsoever to their citizens? Why would they want to curb a free and very lucrative income? The illegality of it bears no consequences or costs, so the Mexican government has no incentive to fix a system that works wonder for them!

I do not know how much longer we can afford to single-handedly support an entire nation through second-hand disbursements. The trillions of American dollars that boost Mexico’s economy are trillions of dollars not strengthening our own. Possibly even more important, the cultural impact of the burgeoning class of illegals is superseding American traditions and values and having a severe impact on our elections and government.

Our country was founded upon the premise “of the People, by the People, for the People” - and those People are constitutionally meant to be AMERICANS. Yet, foreign interest lobbies are have an ever-increasing detrimental effect on our local, state, and federal government as non-citizens are accorded most of the rights and privileges of American citizenship and garner actual governmental representation. This corruption of the intent of our Constitution has been allowed through the steady erosion of our national sovereignty.

Today, there are an estimated 23 million Mexicans working and living in America, according to Vicente Fox, who claims he is the leader of 123 million citizens: 100 million in Mexico and 23 million in America. Is it any wonder that he and like-minded special interest lobbies feel the RIGHT to demand more and more from our acquiescent government? Americans watch incredulously as they get most of what they demand, at our expense. To our shame, our nation’s government has abdicated our rule of law concerning national sovereignty and national security.

We now have a large foreign presence within our borders that is NOT American, has no intention of ever becoming American, has no regard for American law, nor loyalty to America. This is akin to hosting a nation within a nation - and worse, one that is loyal to a foreign power.

Last week, in a related article, I summarized our current scenario as such:

Let’s recap: we’ve got your basic violent criminals (mafia, drug smugglers, rapists, killers, etc) crossing UNDER our border with impunity…we’ve got heavily armed Mexican military blatantly crossing OVER our border to protect such criminals…firing on American Border Patrol agents to collect $200,000 bounties…plus, we’ve got ongoing sightings of enemy soldiers from other nations, possibly China or North Korea, crossing our border…also firing at our Border Patrol agents…we’ve got Muslim terrorists infiltrating easily and regularly from Mexico…we’ve got Muslim terrorists that have already successfully smuggled in nukes from Mexico…we’ve got American citizens living armed in a border zone that has become lawless…though we are at war, our borders are undefended and breached on a regular basis… our sovereignty as a nation is defiled…and WE’VE GOT AN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT THAT KNOWS ALL OF THE ABOVE AND HAS NEVER DONE ANYTHING ABOUT IT!!!

Our government today has monumentally failed in its most foundational duties to our lawful citizenry, as guaranteed by our Constitution. There is no doubt in my mind that our conflicted and disloyal elected “leaders” politicians desperately need the following reminder, from President Theodore Roosevelt:

“In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all.

We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language. And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
–Theodore Roosevelt 1907

This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It was started by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we’re going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration facing our country, join our blogburst! Just send an email with your blog name and url to euphoricrealitynet at gmail dot com.

Blogs already on board:

If you’re looking for pieces on Jack Idema and his team, please click on this link.

From left to right: Jovy Cantrell, Rick Cantrell, Joy Palau, Klea Cordero, Ed Artis.

Aside from Jovy Cantrell, I gather none of these people are Rick’s family. Why would he deliberately mislead me? So who are they, and why was Klea Cordero with Ed Artis when he had his heart attack?

From one of my contacts in Manila:

Yes, the girl right beside Ed is his girlfriend who was with him when he had a heart attack in Zamboanga and had to be airlifted by the US Embassy in Manila and brought to the Asian Hospital, one of the most expensive in Manila. On the left are this American pastor and his Filipina wife who are based in Angeles City Pampanga. His first name is Rick and he also runs the charity called The Healing House.

I have to say I’m surprised, this is a new low! Rick didn’t bother to tell me he’s a Pastor when he tried to pass these women off as his daughters, and his website entitled “Rick’s Memories” as a special forces website. So now the deceptions are adding up. The more I find out about these people, the more I’m embarrassed for them.

And he had the nerve to call me a liar? :mrgreen::mrgreen: This is too much!

And no, Kathryn Cramer, Rick’s website was all about him–not even remotely about Jack Idema, although his sermons in my comments section sure were carrying on about what a fine man Ed Artis is, and how I’m not reporting the story correctly. Yet he delivered no proof–not one iota of evidence beyond his maniacal rantings that what I’m saying is not true, and I keep uncovering more and more evidence that it is true.

Actually, none of Jack’s detractors have come up with any rock solid evidence or luke warm evidence-or -any evidence at all, really- that what I’ve reported is not based on facts, which is why the leftist websites have pretty much gone silent on the subject, and the reason why that other website has completely gone unhinged and rabid, taking swipes at anything and anyone they imagine is even remotely connected to me. HILARIOUS!

Hell, the Superpatriots have been offering $50,000 to anyone who can prove what they’ve been saying isn’t true, and there haven’t been any takers. You would think that Joe Cafasso would lunge at the opportunity to prove he’s a hero and Jack’s a fraud, considering he doesn’t have steady work and he’s living with his mother and sister in C**** New Jersey.

Previous posts on Rick Cantrell:

Message to Ick

Rick Cantrell: Cheerleader for Ed Artis

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Dr. Sanity is a former NASA flight surgeon. She was at Cape Canaveral in Florida that fateful day 20 years ago. She was assigned as the Crew Surgeon for Mission 51-L. Read her account. One of the horrifying things I came away with after reading that– is the knowledge that their deaths may not have been as swift as we were led to believe. God bless them all, and God bless Dr. Sanity.

His Cancer post is here. Go wish him well…and add him to your prayer list.

If you’re looking for pieces on Jack Idema and his team, please click on this link.

On January 6, an article from the AP talked about how the Taliban had laid down their arms to work with the new government, but Mullah Omar remained resolute to fight the infidel Americans.

In this article from Radio Free Afghanistan on January 10, they talk about Karzai extending an olive branch to Mullah Omar and how it was rejected.

Former Taliban Leader Calls For Jihad, Promises Stronger Attacks In Afghanistan
In a message commemorating the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca dated 9 January and read by neo-Taliban spokesman Mohammad Yusof, Mullah Mohammad Omar called on Muslims to continue their jihad against the United States, Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press reported. “Given that the greatest enemy of Islam, the U.S., has taken hostage all the material and spiritual wealth of the Islamic world today, armed jihad has become the duty of every Muslim,” Omar’s message stated. Labeling Muslim leaders allied with the United States “traitors,” Omar urged Muslim countries to react to them or face “victory for the foes of Islam.” According to the ousted leader of the Taliban regime, the United States has been forced by the resistance in Iraq to “search for an escape route” and the same fate “very soon” will become reality for the United States in Afghanistan. Omar also promised a stepping up of attacks by neo-Taliban militia in 2006 with “stronger” tactics. Afghan President Hamid Karzai on 8 January invited Omar to peace talks (see “RFE/RL Newsline,” 9 January 2006), which another neo-Taliban spokesman identified as Dr. Hanif rejected on 9 January in a telephone conversation with Pajhwak Afghan News. AT

But this article from January 16, shows Karzai is trying to make it appear as though he never extended peace talks to Mullah Omar.

Mullah Omar answerable to Afghan people: Karzai

Afghan President Hamid Karzai Monday clarified that he had never made an unconditional offer to Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban’s spiritual leader, to return to Afghanistan.

Speaking to reporters in his fortified presidential palace, Karzai said Mullah Omar should respond to the Afghan people for the catastrophe he caused in the country.

“I have not said that he can come to Afghanistan,” Karzai said. “We have said that Mullah Omar should come and respond to the people of Afghanistan.”

“He should answer why he faced the Afghan people with such a big catastrophe,” the president said.

“Why he burnt the houses of people. Why he burnt the gardens of the people. Why he destroyed the mosques. Why he deprived the Afghan people of education. Why he tried to face the country with difficulties and destruction and by whose order he did it.”

In late 2001, an international military coalition led by the US toppled the Taliban, a fundamentalist Islamic regime, for sheltering Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terrorist network, blamed for the Sep 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington.

The whereabouts of Omar and bin Laden are not known, but more than 19,000 US-led troops are hunting the Taliban and Al Qaeda remnants, mainly in the southern and southeastern region of the war-torn country.

Both Omar and bin Laden as well as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the former Afghan prime minister, have declared a holy war against the presence of international troops in Afghanistan and all those supporting the central government in the country.

–DPA

(IANS)

So it would appear as though Karzai at least on the surface–is staking a claim to fight terrorism, Mullah Omar, Hekmatyar, Bin Laden, etc.

If that is the case, and it appears so…then why are Jack Idema and his men still being held in Afghanistan’s notorious Pulacharke prison?

It can no longer be claimed that the Afghans are extending an olive branch to Hekmatyar and Mullah Omar, and certainly, what Jack Idema and his terrorist hunting Afghans did back in 2004 was to foil a plot to murder members of the Northern Alliance including Yunous Qanooni and numerous others. Let’s take a look at the reason Jack Idema and his men were arrested to begin with.

Jack, working with our Northern Alliance allies, first captured a terrorist named Ghulamsaki, while getting off a bus (due to accurate intelligence gathering). This was the terrorist the FBI hadn’t made any progress capturing. Subsequently, Jack and his men captured 95% of the entire al-Qaida and Hezb-i-Islami terrorist operation cell. And this wasn’t a group of elderly men sipping chai. In four different operations and raids, they not only captured the terrorists, they obtained the actual explosives, detonators, and vehicles that were to be used in the plot to bomb Bagram and assassinate members of the Northern Alliance.

They were planning to assassinate the Afghan President, Minister of Defense, Minister of Education, two ambassadors, and the leaders of Massoud’s Jamiat Party. Had any of them been successful it would have resulted in certain civil war and the deaths of untold Afghan and American lives.

Ironically, and horribly, Jack and his men now find themselves imprisoned with terrorists, while the terrorists who were stopped briefly, have been set free. And we see evidence of this over and over again; 7 Taliban terrorists recently escaped from Pulacharke, merely by inking their hands and posing as visitors and walking out with them.

These terrorists, who were working directly for Osama bin Laden and Gulbideen Hekmatyar, both at one time on America’s Most Wanted list, claimed they were tortured and abused; claimed Jack and his men smashed their heads in bloody bags, cut off fingers, poured boiling water on them, hung them upside down and dipped them in boiling water, repeatedly burned them with cigarettes, beat them day and night, and refused to feed them.

But when the Afghan intelligence agency took custody of them, and two American FBI agents interviewed them, only a few days after all this heinous torture occurred, only one of the terrorists had any mark or injury whatsoever; Serajan’s “torture” wounds amounted to two small cuts on the front of both his ankles. The laughable abrasions were self-inflicted when Serajan attempted to break the plastic flex-cuffs securing his feet during the transport from the terrorists safe-house rented for him with money directly from Osama bin Laden, and later while he was sitting alone in an interrogation room.

Almost all of this was confirmed by the two FBI agents who interviewed Jack, his men, and the terrorists. But interestingly, that FBI report is now classified.

But to bring this home to Americans, think about this: Four fuel tankers driving into Bagram Air Base (fuel tankers are constantly daily arriving at Bagram) laden with gas and explosives as they passed through the gates. The explosives would never be discovered because the terrorists were using a combination of plastic explosives and incendiary explosives which American bomb dogs could not detect.

The result would have been flaming bodies of hundreds of American soldiers in a scene that would have dwarfed the Beirut Marine barracks bombing and brought back the vision of burning victims plunging to their deaths on 9/11.

President Bush said, in September 2001, that all Americans were now soldiers, in the war on terror. He called upon each of us to do whatever we could to stop terror and save American lives. Jack Idema, his men, and the heroic Northern Alliance mujhaideen have done precisely that–side by side–shoulder-to-shoulder.

For those who are making light of my respect and admiration for Jack Idema, let me paraphrase what Ben Stein said recently about the men and women who are fighting this war against terrorism. (With a tip o’ me tam to Euphoric Reality)

The most heroic, ethically courageous, morally resolute men and women in the world today are the Americans, British, and other forces fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. These brave individuals are fighting the most evil men and women currently on the world scene…You should go ahead and ask yourself what kind of sacrifices Jack and his men have made to fight this war on terror, and thank God that he was willing to make such a sacrifice for people who don’t seem to give a rat’s ass about him now. 9/11’s impact has faded with time, and leftists have made sure that we remember those victims as “little Eichmanns’ instead of victims of an outrageous act of war on our soil–a biproduct of this nazi ideology that would have us all killed.

Do I support men and women who are fighting Nazis who call themselves insurgents or Islamic militants? You bet I do. Do I support men and women who offer up their lives to fight the very same terrorists who killed three thousand totally guiltless Americans on 9/11? You bet. Do I support the troops who have more moral decency in their toes than I do or anyone I know does in our whole bodies? You better believe I do.

I support them, pray for them, am humbled just to be on the same planet with them. With every morning I wake up, every meal I eat, every walk I take in freedom, every night I sleep in peace, I ask God to look after these men and women who guard the ramparts of this blessed island of peace and decency called America. Without them, we would be nothing. Without them, Joel Stein and other anti-war demonstrators would have their heads sawed off on videotape. Saints in armor is what I call them and that is exactly and precisely what they are. They are God’s gifts to a wayward world.

These are just a few of the many reasons why Jack Idema and his men absolutely and unequivocally must be freed from Pulacharke prison, and why we must push for a Congressional investigation as to why this ever happened to them to begin with.

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It’s Sunday, folks, say a prayer for the American POWs in Afghanistan, that they’ll be kept safe and alive until that one day soon when they’re released.

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I was surfing on Blog Explosion today and boy are there some serious losers out there. I’ve always marvelled at the fact that I’m a Large Mammal and for a while held a position in the top 100 blogs out of something like 44,000. Now I don’t wonder about it anymore.

Ok, here is what I find is so interesting. I saw one blogger say something about how Bush was an idiot for not accepting Osama’s TRUCE proposal. Does anyone honestly think that on the one side of the equation he’s talking about preparing for attacks on America and on the other side of the equation he truly means what he says about a truce? What person can honestly be that stupid? Anybody who has even minimally studied the Koran and Islam, the Arab fascist mentality and so on- has heard the phrase al-takeyya or that they believe that war is deception? Give me a break. We can’t believe a thing the terrorists say and that includes the ‘head dissident’ Osama yo mama Bin Laden.

Next, anybody hear what came from Bin Laden’s #2 the day after Osama made his earthshaking emergence from the depths of nowhere to make his incredible announcement that appealed to liberals everywhere? Here it is.

Zawahri praises fighters in Afghanistan
- -
Dubai: Al Qaeda’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, praised Islamic fighters in Afghanistan, according to a new Internet audio tape, released a day after Osama bin Laden warned of attacks on America. The speaker on the latest tape sounded like the Egyptian-born Zawahri.

”I am honoured to recite this jihadist poem,” he said, praising mujahideen fighters. ”We shall remain true to our oath (with the Afghan mujahideen).” The tape emerged one day after al Qaeda’s leader, Osama bin Laden, said the group was preparing attacks in the United States but was open to a conditional truce with Americans, according to an audio tape attributed to him.

CIA analysts have concluded that the voice on the is that of Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri. “Following technical analysis of the tape, CIA has assessed that it is the voice of Ayman al-Zawahiri,” said the official, who asked not to be identified.

It was not clear whether the tape was made after a US air strike in Pakistan last week, which officials said was aimed at Zawahri, and Pakistani intelligence sources said ”a few militants” had been killed.

The last tape attributed to Zawahri was issued earlier this month, and in it, he said U.S. President George W. Bush’s plans to withdraw troops from Iraq meant Washington had been defeated by the Muslims.

Not on your life. I’m for staying and seeing this thing through. Enough have died that we should not dishonor what they died for. We should make sure that this is a success and we shouldn’t allow the jihadis to claim victory when there hasn’t been one.

Here at CB I’ve written quite a bit about Saddam’s WMD’s (here, here, here) and how he moved them to Syria. Even though leftists enjoy arguing the point, (citing the 9/11 Ommission Report, etc.-) the facts are now irrefutable.

Atlas Shrugs has a great expose quoting the New York Sun’s interview with the author of the new book entitled “Saddam’s Secrets” by General Georges Sada. He was the man who served as the no. 2 official in Saddam Hussein’s air force and he says Iraq moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria before the war.

“Saddam realized, this time, the Americans are coming,” Mr. Sada said. “They handed over the weapons of mass destruction to the Syrians.”

Mr. Sada said that the Iraqi official responsible for transferring the weapons was a cousin of Saddam Hussein named Ali Hussein al-Majid, known as “Chemical Ali.” The Syrian official responsible for receiving them was a cousin of Bashar Assad who is known variously as General Abu Ali, Abu Himma, or Zulhimawe.

She also includes in this great post, linking to 4 videos showing in graphic detail Saddam’s actual torture and murder that took place under Saddam Hussein’s regime.

FDD President Cliff May notes: “Television news, understandably, will not broadcast such videos. But they are, nevertheless, an important record of Saddam Hussein’s crimes against humanity that should be available to the public as his trial resumes.”

If you’re looking for pieces on Jack Idema and his team, please click on this link.

Prisoner Of War status has become a hot issue in the War On Terror. The legal grounds to deny POW and Geneva Convention status to al-Qaida, Iraqi, and Taliban terrorists is simple– they don’t meet the requirements of Rule 4 of the Geneva Convention for Combatant Prisoners. Few terrorists do. To see these rules, follow this footnote: READ RULE 4.

Terrorists don’t wear uniforms, have ID Cards, carry their weapons openly, wear unit patches (what would it say? AQ Killer Group with twin burning towers as a logo?), nor do they follow any of the other guidelines required by Rule 4, except that they might be subordinate to a commander (like bin Laden, Hekmatyar, Mullah Omar, etc). But being subordinate to a madman does give rise to GC protections, you must follow all of the requirements of Rule 4.

Some people say that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. Cute saying, but not legally correct. Freedom fighters and guerillas, historically, wear uniforms- no matter how ragged or mismatched, they carry their arms openly, rarely target civilian women and children, have military ranks and often have Identity Cards. One of the best examples includes Commander Massoud’s Northern Alliance 1996-2004.

The press have called TASK FORCE SABER / 7 personnel “mercenaries.” The NY Times (ala Jason Blair hype) said “Mercenaries in Afghan Case Get 8 to 10 years.” The press and bloggers have also called Jack Idema a “mercenary”. It is clear that Jack and his men are not, and never were mercenaries. See: GC Protocols Article 47. The TF SABER / 7 Geneva Convention Legal Brief/Letter clearly forecloses any argument to even consider they are or were “mercenaries.” FYI—TF Saber /7 is Jack Idema’s terrorist hunting team that is now imprisoned at Pulacharke prison.

It is undisputable that all seven of the defendants (Jack, Brent, Ed and the Afghans with them) had Geneva Convention POW status. POW status is established by simply asserting the status upon capture or arrest in a conflict area. At that point you have POW status.[1] Status continues until such time as a Geneva Military Tribunal meets and either awards permanent status, or rejects status. But, and this is an important but, from the moment of assertion, a person “in custody” or “confinement” has automatic status the moment they assert that status, either verbally or in writing.[2] TASK FORCE SABER / 7 personnel did that very quickly, and followed it up in writing.

Within 24 hours they asserted their POW Status, and 60 days later filed a complete legal grounds brief with the Central Information Bureaux in Switzerland, and copied the Red Cross- the guardians of the Geneva Convention.[3]

Rule 4

Readers Note: The Combatant version was not available to the men when they wrote their status request, but they were correct, the Geneva Convention Relative To The Treatment Of Prisoners Of War of August 12, 1949, Part I, Article 4, states:

A. Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy:

1. Members of the armed forces of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces.
2. Members [This and #1 apply to Jack, Bennett, and the other Americans not originally captured/arrested by Karzai’s Pro-Taliban government] of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belong to a Party to the conflict and operation in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movement fulfill the following conditions:
a. that of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;
b. that of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance;
c. that of carrying arms openly;
d. that of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.
3. Members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a government or an authority not recognized by the detaining power [Major Amin, Lt. Banderas- UFMF] [Northern Alliance].
4. Persons who accompany the armed forces without actually being members thereof, such as civilian members of military aircraft crews, war correspondents [Caraballo], supply contractors… [ ] provided that they have received authorization from the armed forces which they accompany, who shall provide them for that purpose with an identity card similar to the annexed model.
5. [Refers to Aircrews]
6. [Refers to inhabitants, who upon invasion, take up arms]

[1] Jack, on behalf of all subordinates, asserted POW protected status under the Geneva Convention of 1949 on the second day of capture, and no defendant has ever waived protected status since that time.

[2] Geneva Convention Protocol I, Part III, ß II, Article 45,  1, which states; “A person who takes part in hostilities and falls into the power of an adverse Party shall be presumed to be a prisoner of war, and therefore shall be protected by the Third Convention, if he claims the status of prisoner of war, or he appears to be entitled to such status, or if the Party on which he depends claims such status on his behalf by notification to the detaining Power or to the Protecting power. Should any doubt arise as to whether any such person is entitled to the status of prisoner of war, he SHALL [emphasis added] continue to have such status and, therefore, to be protected by the Third Convention and this Protocol until such time as his status has been determined by a competent tribunal.”

[3] “The Red Cross is the Guardian of the Geneva Convention…” Comments of 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.

The Red Cross, in this case, has been more tolerant to the terrorists–the Taliban and Al Qaeda–than the American citizens who qualify for its protection under the Geneva Conventions.

Article 47 - Mercenaries

1. A mercenary shall not have the right to be a combatant or prisoner of war [note: Of course the press was calling them “mercenaries” any other title would support their claims].
2. A mercenary is any person who:
1. is specially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict;
2. does, in fact, take a direct part in the hostilities;
3. is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a Party to the conflict, material compensations substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of that Party;
4. is neither a national of a Party to the conflict nor a resident of a territory controlled by a Party to the conflict.
5. is not a member of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict; and
6. has not been sent by a State which is not a Party to the Conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces.

Final Readers Note: These guys are COMPLETELY excluded from this category on every issue, and any argument or characterization of them as mercenaries or bounty hunters is completely foreclosed by law.

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