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[Bryan Lee]

   Interesting this subject comes up this month in the dispatch. I doubt is many will forget when Jack was arrested and publicly thrown to the feeding frenzy of the news. No matter what conclusions one might come to Jack is about the most interesting player in A-Stan that is out in the public.


    If one is truly interested in this, the place to start is who are the real men behind the user names of those who are calling Jack Idema a fraud? Are they really the Uber Commandos they claim to be on the internet or just jealous bitches with keyboards? I have a couple e-mails I'm awaiting responses to that involve the same crowd and their hyperbolic finger pointing and total authority of all things military as it seems some of them ain't who they would have you to believe. Me? I don't throw Army guys, Ex-Army Guys or Veterans under the bus without giving them some time to explain themselves and fully checking into their claims, I will be getting back to this subject in the coming weeks for those with any interest in the matter.

[JimH]

I know Keith.
Keith is from upstate New York.
Keith did SFQC and was assigned to the 10th Special Forces.
Keith got out and then Joined the 11 th Special Forces.
Keith had a business in which he sold Police and Military gear,( I have several of his cards)
Keith was always on the news as he did things ,like put on a Bullet proff vest and let them film him loading and firing live rounds at  point Blank range,firing at himself in the chest.
Keith also had land and formed a small unit of SF guys,of which I know a few,and they did tactical training for Police and civilian needs units.
(This was also filmed and played on local networks)
Keith got into making gear for military,Police,civilian needs units and civilian paint ballers.(Tactical vests)
Keith got an offer to open and run a large training center  for police and civilian needs units as well as for indoor/outdoor paintballers outside Fort Bragg.
Keith left for the Fort Bragg area in the mid 80's.
Keith supposedly got military and civilian contracts for his training.
Next thing we heard was that he was arrested and accussed of fraud as he supposedly stole some one elses concepts for some tactical vests and he also  supposedly ripped off credit card companies.
I ,and those I know, had not heard that Keith ever went back active duty in Special Forces.
Keith did time for his crimes.
When Keith got out,he was supposedly in New York when 9/11 happened ,in upstate New York.
He felt he had to do something so he got his gear and he went to Afghanistan and linked up with the Northern Alliance.
From then on we all know or have read the stories.
I am of the opinion that it is possible that Keith ran the drills seen on SOME of the so called Al Qaeda tapes  he found as the tactics  used can be seen in the tapes and film released in the early to mid eighties from his compound in Upstate New York.(maybe a coincidence??)
Keith is good at what he does,he is a self promoter,so he could easily have gotten people to believe he was working for the Government,(he could have been) as he is an easily deniable character,an odd ball of sorts,who knows the game and can play it,but if caught be denied as an asset.
He has extensive pics of some of his days in SF through to 2001 in Afghanistan and with SAS,US Military and even the Afghan president on his 'SuperPatriots.US" site.
Keith is a character.
He believes he is a true Hero and Patriot,some agree,some disagree.
Whether with US Backing or not Keith had his butt on the line in Afghanistan and he and his team may have crossed the line and gotten caught,but he was there doing what others,in the government and out,wish they were doing.
Keith is also all about creating and selling Keith.

[Hock]

Bulletin 8 : Jack Idema, Super Mercenary?  (From the new June CQC Dispatches)

Some of my Green Beret friends told me the inside scoop on this Idema. Much of the insider intel is found here.  Plus more webs for more info on this mysterious "super patriot, super mercenety," proclaimed special forces Jack Idema.
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/cat_bizarro.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Get the June Dispatches yet? Sent out 2 June, 2007
Open it up? Well Why not?
New? Email me to sign up!
HockHoch@aol.com

Hock

[Bryan Lee]

Whether with US Backing or not Keith had his butt on the line in Afghanistan and he and his team may have crossed the line and gotten caught,but he was there doing what others,in the government and out,wish they were doing.

   My point exactly, those sitting at home doing nothing but the beer drinking seem to be the loudest in the bitch club thats circumnavigated the Interweb just to fuss, bitch, and moan, about how he wasn't authorized to be there. They would have been much more effective if they just STFU, unplugged from the internet, and reminded themselves they are sitting at home in the comfort and luxury of the United States and just enjoyed their Zen moment.

   Jack may be coming back soon anyway, I'm sure he could stay busy the rest of his life getting drinks bought for him by friends and physically confronting the bitches claiming to have "Been there and done that!" who publicly threw the man under the bus. I'm sure they are the by the book retentive types who would try to stop a fight by saying "You're not authorized to kick my ass!"

Good Luck Jack if you ever read this.

[JimH]

Keiths prison is not exactly what we might think.
Keith has a suite,cooks,weapons on hand and he does a radio show from there periodically.
He is called a guest of the country,lol.
A Brit Military friend sent me a video of Keith giving an interview to a British News org,it was about 30 minutes long and Kieth is in this suite getting drunk with these Afghan people he is with,lol.
If you go to his web site he is selling shirts,hats,posters,loads of stuff.
He sold copies of his al qaeda videos for 50,000 to 150,000 a piece to news networks.
He came home and was on the talk shows,on TV,radio in print,he was larger than life.
He could have stayed home and soaked it all up,he could have parlayed it into something bigger,but he went back.(He says he was close to finding those who would lead to Osama,maybe the 25 mil was his goal).
Keith has paid his money and traveled around the world looking to get into the mix and do his part if government approved or not,Mostly not.
Keith sells Keith,good or Bad,when he gets out he will be back in the news media again and again.
When he returns he will be given a contractor company or he will be a Trainer for a company.
Read the letters from some influential people on his site and see some of who back him.
Keith will land on his feet,though alot of what he says is a story,he has put it on the line.

[Hock]

More...

http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/10121/

Hock

[JimH]

Keith is a member of the Special Forces community.
He graduated SFQC,served with the 10th SF and did some other SF  schools and courses.
Keith started his Counter Terror Group in the early 80's and he did use some great tactics in his teams training and preparations.
There is a picture out there of Keith on the range with Ron Reagan Jr,this picture was shot at Keiths CTG compound in upstate NY,alot of Police ,civilian needs units and some military and VIPs passed through his compound.
The compound used H2H,(Keith was one of the few to graduate Mike Echanis SF H2H course)Pistol work,Rifle and smg work,sniper work , explosives and demo,with charges Keith(and others ) developed for entry techniques.
(this is on film and was televised by a Local news agency in the mid 80's)
Keith developed gear and took his show on the road and developed contacts,he used them to travel the world getting in the mix in various hot spots.
If he had stayed to this work No one would have heard of him.

To me Keith has developed similarly to "Forrest Gump",if there was a pivitol point in a conflict Keith found it,as Forrest Gump was at and or around pivitol points of history.
Suit case nukes from Russia.
Al Qaeda Video.
Plots to Kill Presidents and VIPs.

Keith did put it out there and he embelished the truth ,so much so people cannot tell truth from fiction,he is a nutter to a degree and he is a publicity hound,but while his stories are embellished,some remakably so, he has had his butt in these hot spots,so fraud is a harsh term.
(he is not in an Afgahan holding site because he tortured people at his hiuse in New York or just outside of Ft Bragg)

As said Keith will land on his feet and we will most likely hear more of him turning up in some other place finding something else of major importance.

[Bryan Lee]

More...

http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/10121/

Hock

  From the NY Times no less? They have about zero sum total credibility in these type investigations. First thing is who are their sources, the very same people who were getting sued and those sitting on the couch talking on the phones. I'm sure they would have been much happier if Idema would have got shot early on, they could have got the story for free.

   What some people are failing to see is that whatever Jack was before he was arrested having lived the last few years with the Taliban in the very same prison will have given him a superior understanding of these people, a understanding those in the FBI, and those who talk a good game from the safety of  the American Rear could only fantasize about having. Anyone who says this man is not a expert on A-stan is just a fool, If you don't like him, his style, or even what he has to say thats a separate matter.


   Besides, the NY Times has been known to get it completely wrong in the past as I believe they have done here. No matter how simple your math is I want offer this, A man who has been to Afghanistan would certainly know more about it than one who had not, now check the time line, and add, one day in country equals 1 and 0 days in country equals 0, now tell me who the experts are?

[Joe Hubbard]

A great expose on Jack Idema is in Robert Pelton Young’s book Licence to Kill.  An interesting adjunct to all of this bru-hah-hah for me personally is that the young guy who was Idema’s sidekick who was released from the Stan prison showed up at the U.S. Embassy in London after going underground in the UK for nearly a year.  The government had given this guy a loan and he showed up trying to get a new passport to go home.  Can’t mention anymore about this, but it was interesting. 

[Hock]

Jack idema is dead...

"Jonathan Keith "Jack" Idema, the con man extraordinaire from Fayetteville who spent years in an Afghan prison for running a private jail and torture chamber while claiming to be a secret Pentagon operative, has died in Mexico.
His death at age 55 marks the end of perhaps the most colorful, unpleasant and self-dramatizing character to tread North Carolina soil since Blackbeard..."

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/25/3392149/notorious-north-carolina-con-man.html?utm_source=Jan+27+BTW&utm_campaign=BTW+Jan+28&utm_medium=email#storylink=cpy

[rutleddc]

I had forgotten all about his "Moby Dick" quest to find Bin Laden. 

[JimH]

Got word of his death last week.
May He Rest In Peace.

[Hock]

The Times weighs in...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/world/asia/jonathan-idema-con-man-and-afghan-bounty-hunter-dies-at-55.html?_r=1

[Canuk]

Seems like he was mentally ill

[noload]

I know more than one guy who were very, very pissed at what he did to Robin Moore.

[SabreActual]

Idema death certificate and commentary - http://beforeitsnews.com/opinion-conservative/2012/11/jack-idema-death-certificate-confirms-aids-2533038.html