Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Jack In the NEWS!

UPDATE VI
SEE UPDATE V - as well!
DISCOURAGED FORWARD! Junior Cape Crusaders.
Well Francis this is very interesting! According to the Idema Vs. Fox News case file our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema's lawyers have issued a supeona to Earthlink claiming that someone has hacked Idema's email account and sent out emails to people who he was not doing business with to make it look like he was... It also states that someone was monitoring and copying his private emails...
My... my... Francis how many times is our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema going to claim that people broke into his property? Stole his computers, files, business, and set him up when he came so very close to being discovered?
Shame on you Francis! We also wonder why our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema makes statements on his website such as to the effect that he has protected his ..ah... military documents so that no one can alter them? When in fact our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema has been known to do things like this. Just ask the USPIS. They discovered that our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema was attempting to use stolen Fox News letterhead to make his own case! Like our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema did not do this while back when he was faking his own company that he was convicted on 56 counts of wire fraud!
Shame on you Francis......
DISCOURAGED FORWARD!
UPDATE V
DISCOURAGED FORWARD! Junior Cape Crusaders.
We are very HONORED today Junior Cape Crusaders! Stupor Patriot Agent 35Z our cyber terrorist computer tracking specialist tells us that he has traced one of the visiting IP addresses to none other than our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema's dashing "Cloning" legal beagle and lead attorney Francis CJ "I am In/I am out" Puzzilli!

Welcome Attorney Puzzilli!

And you thought that our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema was the only one who could trace a IP Footprint! Please make yourself at home with our humble weblog and remember nothing here is copyrighted!

You know Francis, your client has been a joy to us. One of the best things you have done was getting our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema a computer and Sat phone hook-up from Pulacharke Prison! Our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema just loves to talk! Matter of fact we hear so many stories from the gang in Fayetteville that we are never out of material. Though we are told that our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema has not talked so nice about you! Much of it is associated with rather colorful metaphors! So we guess that is the reason why that Haitian Ambulance Chaser John Edwards "Gummo" Tiffany is playing Perry Mason while you are just holding the record together in name only.

What a shame!

But don't fret Francis! Gummo has about as much standing in this case as a three legged donkey walking backwards. BTW... Do you actually think that our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema will be back in the States without being charged again and in time for that PR Stunt he is pulling off in a Court of Law? And if he does not come back think the Judge will allow another continuance? The bet in Fayetteville is 1 in 160 against you! Pretty good underdog odds if you ask us! Heck if you win you can always apply that money to your legal fee's. Its more than likely that will be the only money you will ever see. Oh that's right our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema settled a old lawsuit. Oh but he is going to appeal all the way to the USSC! We think he is quoted as saying he will "spend billions"! YIKES! Better find another Hawala and fast!

Anyway welcome aboard! Sit a spell. Take your shoes off and our weblog is your weblog! If you wish to communicate with us please feel free to leave us a note in our comment section we promise to reply! BTW we will very shortly have another very nice legal beagle surprise for you so stay tuned!

One last note Junior Cape Crusaders. Since our Stupor Pats have a motto "DISCOURAGED FORWARD!". We thought it appropriate to have a theme song for our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema and his "Band of Marx Brothers"! It's a take off on the Ballad of the Green Berets (no offense to the real unsung hero's of course!) Its called "The Pulacharke Beret" !

So lets sing along! Francis will you do the honors and lead off humming the first few notes?

Loony fraudsters on the sly
fearless scammers who jump on bait
men who scam as they say
the convicted three of the Pulacharke Beret.

Chorus
Stolen Wings upon their chest
make them feel like the best
100 fraudsters Jack will train
but only 3 will win the Pulacharke Beret

Trained to scam from knee high
trained in combat from books gone-bye
trained to hoodwink from sun to set
Discouraged forward from the Pulacharke Beret

Chorus
Stolen Wings upon their chest
make them feel like the best
100 fraudsters Jack will train
but only 3 will win the Pulacharke Beret

Back at home another fraud waits
her Pulacharke Beret has met his faith
he has tortured for all the rest
leaving her his last debt.

And stolen wings on my sons chest
will make him feel like the best
he'll be a man Jack will train
have him win the Pulachar-ke Ber-et!

DISCOURAGED FORWARD!


UPDATE IV
DISCOURAGED FORWARD! Junior Cape Crusaders!

Yes Junior Cape Crusaders! On our last check of our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema prison palace he and his "Band of Marx Brothers" were all tending to their www.superpatriots.us site and cranking up the old smoke generator! So if Our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema is expecting to come home as we are told by our friends at Ft. Bragg and Fayetteville so he can play in front of the camera's for his publicity stunt civil trial he better start praying more or is that paying more? Oh yeah his Hawala was shut down! Wonder if his lawyers knew he was illegally transferring money?

Well lets take a look at some of the questions below that we have for Francis "I want in/I want out" Pizzulli (we hope that this had nothing to do with sargie!) and his side-kick John "Gummo" Tiffany of Bloomfield, New Jersey. BTW Tiffany we have heard of ambulance chasers but you are too much! Who did you get lessons from? Jack?

May the year 2000 bring real change in Haiti!
Greetings to all Haitians!

I am the sole principal of a New Jersey / New York law firm with a substantial Haitian client base, reflecting a cross-section of the the Haitian Diaspora throughout the greater New York / New Jersey Metropolitan Area.I have listened and watched as my Haitian clients have expressed great despair over the current state of their beloved Haiti.

At times, tears have welled up in my eyes as I have listened about the plight of Haiti, and what more than a decade of all talk and inanction has wrought upon an island once thought to be the jewel of the Carribean. The gripping heartache and sheer despair of my clients has moved me to action, and as a consequence, my law firm is now involved in efforts to bring real change in Haiti. I now ask others to join my efforts by contacting me by email: jet4444@bellatlantic.net or jet@haitiglobalvillage.com

You may also reach me at my firm:
Law Offices of John E. Tiffany, P.C.
143 Washington Avenue
Belleville, NJ 07109
(973) 759-7591 (Tel)(973) 759-7611 (Fax)(973) 454-9633 (Cell)(917) 775-5509 (Pager)

Godspeed!
John Edwards Tiffany, Esq.

1. Where was our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema getting his financing from?

2. Was our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema ever a DoD Contracting Officer?

3. Did our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema know what a Hawala was? And did you know this?

4. What was filed as our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema last Imcome Tax Report?

5. Was our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema operation really sanctioned by the USG?

6. Why doesn't our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema post his true DD214?

7. Why doesn't our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema post his Fox News contract?

8. Why does our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema continue to change his how I found the AQ Tapes story?

9. What was the relationship between our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema and Noor Alocozy who was just arrested by ICE for fronting the Hawala Jack was using?

10. What is the relationship between our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema and Mr. Noorullah B. Delawai of 3925 Sunset Avenue Los Angeles, and 1901 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 931, Motrose, California?

11. What was the relationship between our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema and Mr. Mohammad Ehsa, Mr. Haji Haroun, Mr. Saifi and Mr. Yacoub Qhane of Ehsan & Company?

12. What did our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema pass to CBS Stringer Laura Winter?

13. Why doesn't our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema post all the evidence he has proving his claim that the USG knew and sanctioned his operations? Oh yeah that right the FBI took all of that ! Hey Francis "I want in/I want out" Pizzulli and his side-kick John "Gummo" Tiffany we guess ethics is not something you guys take seriously! BTW Who is paying you guys? Hope not the same players who fronted the Hawala?

DISCOURAGED FORWARD!

UPDATE III
DISCOURAGED FORWARD! Junior Cape Crusaders!

Our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema wants to ask, how the Hawala are ya?

Well Junior Cape Crusaders it seems that our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema is playing his typical cat and mouse game in his up coming law suit Idema vs. Fox News! We are now hearing that our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema's lawyers Francis "I want in/I want out" Pizzulli and his side-kick John "Gummo" Tiffany are playing their silly games and stalling! What's up Gummo? Jack not coming home? How many times you going to keep telling the Court he's coming home? Think the Judge is going to keep putting up with the horse-hockey judicial mockery?

Stay tuned Junior Cape Crusaders! More to come!

BTW Major Jim Morris..... Some big bad commando/intelligence operative leader your hero is using a Hawala to help fund his rogue operations! You, Barry Farber , Ted Kavanau and the rest of the anti-government whacko's must be proud! You should also be proud that your hero knowing his players real well had a interesting meeting sometime around 28 October 2004 and met with a gentleman by the name of Vijay Gupta who is reportedly a known Indian Intellegence Officer! Dam Proud Major....Dam Proud!!

DISCOURAGED FORWARD!

UPDATE II

Rumors, and Rumors and Rumors... Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh my!
Yes Junior Cape Crusaders! The rumor mill has been very buzy the past few days. It seems that our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema who said Hawala 'O to all yesterday is really cranking up the smoke generator.

We are hearing for the ninth time that our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema and his "Band of Marx Brothers" are scheduled to be released just in time for his frivolous law suit! You can bet this will become a three ring circus! Of which is a huge PR Stunt at the expense of others! Our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema has about as much standing in this action as a two legged donkey! But this has never been about honesty and justice, just PR!

Though we have been hearing this rumor for a while we do know that there has been much behind the scenes discussions and you all have to remember that this is of course Afghanistan. Where one can buy almost anything! Especially if you pay your debt to the victims.....

But in case this rumor is true we will be very please to have our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema back in the States. You never know what charges might await him here!

Lets see.... Unlawful use of small arms in a war zone? No.No.N0.... Interference with military operations and force protection? No.No.N0.... Attempted murder? No.No.N0.... Illegal wire transfers? No.No.N0.... Income Tax Evasion? Or maybe a combination of many!?

Though we never under-estimate our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema! Who knows who he might have sold out! BTW Jack you don't have to worry about buying your cell here either. The Fed is very good about this!

BTW Jack we would love to know what the real story with CBS Stringer Laura Winter was? What she actually sent CBS NYC? maybe the FBI should take a visit over there as well?

DISCOURAGED FORWARD!

UPDATED!

The plot thickens Junior Cape Crusaders! Remember Todays Lesson T & D! Your home work was to do some research on the names provided. So the pieces are starting to come together. Here we see how a Hawala played into our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema's operation. While it is reported that Noorullah Delawari before becoming the Afghan Bank President was either on the Board of Afghan Relief Organization (ARO) or an adviser to them. ARO was headed by name number 02. Masoud Khalili. Now what was ARO doing in China?

BTW Jack.... again we ask where you been getting all this money from? Since you have been hiding your assets from the US Attorney! Where you getting all this money from to pay these lawyers to sue? Or are you making promises your check book can't keep? Or maybe its Daddy Idema? We also wonder if Vicky Boyette knew of your Hawala funding and sources? Hummm maybe the FBI should go and visit her again around 4AM?

DISCOURAGED FORWARD! Junior Cape Crusaders!

OK seems that our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema has made the news! ATTABOY JACK! Lets take a look!

Copyright 2005 States News Service
States News Service

May 23, 2005 Monday

LENGTH: 1841 words
HEADLINE: ICE CAMPAIGN AGAINST ILLEGAL MONEY TRANSMITTERS & UNDERGROUND 'HAWALAS' YIELDS 140 ARRESTS & 138 INDICTMENTS NATIONWIDE

BYLINE: States News Service
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:The following information was released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security:Michael J. Garcia, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), today announced that a nationwide campaign by ICE agents against unlicensed money transmittal businesses and underground "hawalas" has resulted in the arrest of 140 individuals, 138 criminal indictments, and the seizure of more than $25.5 million in illicit proceeds since the enactment of the USA Patriot Act, which requires such businesses to be licensed and registered."Over the past two weeks, ICE has shut down a number of unlicensed money transmittal businesses that were responsible for the transfer of millions of dollars to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran," said Assistant Secretary Garcia.


"ICE targets these illegal operations because we know that terrorist and other criminal organizations can use these underground businesses to move illicit funds anywhere in the world with no questions asked."In recent days, ICE has won guilty pleas from two defendants and arrested another on charges of operating unlicensed money transmittal businesses.On Friday, May 20, Rahim Bariek, 46, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan and resident of Herndon, Virginia, pleaded guilty in Alexandria to operating an unlicensed money transmittal business that wired millions of dollars to Iran, Pakistan, and areas in Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban between 2001 and 2003. On November 14, 2001, roughly two months after the 9/11 attacks, Bariek testified before the U.S. Senate about how important it was for "hawaladars" like himself to abide by federal laws governing such businesses.

Those who skirt the rules "give all hawala a bad name," he testified. A subsequent ICE probe revealed that Bariek was operating an illegal money transmittal firm in Virginia that illegally wired $4.9 million to Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Bariek faces a maximum five-year sentence when sentenced on July 29, 2005.On Friday, May 20, Noor Alocozy, 41, a native of Afghanistan native living in San Francisco, pleaded guilty to federal charges of operating an unlicensed money transmittal business that funneled nearly $1 million to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere.

The investigation by ICE, the FBI, DEA, and IRS revealed that Alocozy's business had been utilized by Jack Idema, the former Green Beret-turned bounty hunter who is currently imprisoned in Afghanistan for allegedly torturing Afghan civilians. During the investigation, Alocozy provided ICE investigators with copies of business ledgers indicating that Idema used Alocozy's business to send funds from the U.S. to Afghanistan, presumably in support of his quest to capture Osama bin Laden and collect the $50 million reward.









[Remember your homework assignment and name number 03. Noorullah Delawari. Well Junior Cape Crusaders we understand that part of this investigation involves Delawari and his company who may have transferred money for our imprisoned POW Hero Leader "Groucho" General Jack Idema. Noorullah Delawari is now President of the National Bank in Afghanistan...Not nice Jack to be playing with Hawalas. Could this also be one of your money partners?]

Alocozy is scheduled to be sentenced on August 26, 2005.On May 13, 2005, Eltaib Yousif, 41, a resident of Castro Valley, California, made his initial court appearance in federal court in San Francisco after being arrested by ICE agents on charges of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. According to the indictment, Yousif illegally moved more than $1.5 million outside the country between September 2001 and November 2003. The investigation began after San Francisco ICE agents received a tip from ICE agents in New York about suspicious deposits being made into accounts at Citibank branches there and in the Bay Area.

These enforcement actions result from an ICE investigative strategy that targets the underlying financial systems that terrorist and other criminal organizations may exploit in raising, moving, and storing illicit funds. ICE seeks to deny criminal organizations access to these systems. One system that has repeatedly proven vulnerable to such exploitation involves money transmittal businesses and related hawalas.For decades, ICE agents have seen criminal organizations use money transmittal businesses to move their illicit proceeds overseas.

In 1996, for example, ICE agents executed search warrants on three locations affiliated with Tele-Austin, a small money transfer firm in Queens, New York. Evidence gleaned from these searches helped ICE identify and ultimately arrest the chief New York representative of Colombia's Norte Valle drug cartel, who had moved $70 million in drug funds to Colombia through these money transfer firms. Subsequent ICE investigation resulted in the indictment in New York last year of the leaders of the Norte Valle cartel, which is believed to be responsible for 50 percent of the cocaine supplied to the United States.The USA Patriot Act of 2001 enhanced ICE's ability to combat the international movement of illicit funds through money transmittal businesses by amending the 18 USC 1960 statute. As a result of this law, money transmittal businesses in the United States are required to be registered with the U.S. Treasury Department and to be licensed by the appropriate state authorities.

Since the enactment of the Patriot Act, ICE agents have aggressively targeted unlicensed money transmittal businesses and underground hawalas nationwide, given the vulnerabilities they pose. Some of these cases include the following:Man Jailed in Connection with Illegal Money Transfer Firm that Moved $100 Million to Pakistan - On April 4, 2005, Farooq Malik, a citizen of Pakistan, was sentenced to 43 months incarceration and three years supervised release following his conviction for operating an illegal money transmittal business and aiding and abetting.

The sentence resulted from a 21-month investigation by ICE and IRS agents into illegal money transmitting businesses in New York and New Jersey that began in 2002. Malik, a resident of Astoria, NY, was one of six individuals arrested in June 2003 who were linked to a criminal scheme that routed more than $100 million to Pakistan through an unlicensed money transmitting business known as Access, Inc. of USA, located in Iselin, N.J. Malik operated an illegal money transfer business called Link to Link, Inc. in Long Island, NY, that transferred funds to Access, for subsequent transfer to Pakistan. Several other defendants in the case have pleaded guilty.ICE Dismantles Illinois Illegal Funds Transfer Firm That Moved Funds to Iran - On March 22, 2005, ICE agents arrested Hossein Esfahani, in Lincolnwood, Illinois, on charges of operating an illegal money transmittal business and transferring funds to Iran in violation of the U.S. embargo on Iran.

The criminal complaint alleges that Esfahani moved more than $3.75 million to domestic and international locations from his unlicensed money service business in Illinois from 1999 through 2003. The majority of Esfahami's illegal money transmittals were directed to money exchanges in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Those Dubai money exchanges, in turn, converted the wired funds into Iranian currency and then directed the funds to recipients throughout Iran, according to the complaint. During the enforcement action, Esfahani resisted arrest and ICE agents found a loaded .22 caliber pistol in his house that he was not licensed to possess.ICE Dismantles Virginia Illegal Funds Transfer Firm That Moved $23 Million to Syria - On March 15, 2005, ICE agents arrested Louay Habbal, 45, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Syria, for operating an unlicensed money transmittal business located at his Vienna, Virginia, residence.

Habbal was arrested upon his arrival at Dulles International Airport in the United States on a flight from Damascus, Syria. The indictment alleges that Habbal operated a business called Mena Exchange that received funds from customers nationwide and deposited these funds in bank accounts in Virginia and elsewhere. After taking a portion of these funds as a fee, Mena Exchange transferred more than $23 million to Syria and other nations between November 2001 and July 2004. ICE agents seized more than $100,000 from the company's accounts.Ohio Doctor Charged with Illegally Transferring Funds to Iran - On November 4, 2004, a federal grand jury in Cleveland, Ohio, issued a 38-count indictment against Mohammad Anvari-Hamedani charging him with money laundering, illegal exports to Iran, and filing false tax returns. The ICE investigation revealed that Anvari-Hamedani illegally transferred more than $4 million to Iran using bank accounts in the United States, Great Britain, and the United Arab Emirates.

In addition, the investigation revealed that funds were also transferred to Iran using a "hawala" scheme using several individuals from various locations in the United States.Russian migr Moves $680 Million Via Illegal Money Service Business - On May 5, 2004, a federal grand jury in Philadelphia, PA, charged Michael Rakita, a local businessman and Russian migr, with one count of operating an illegal money transmitting business and four counts of money laundering. The indictment alleges that from Jan. 1994 through Feb. 2002, Rakita operated an unlicensed money transfer business that wire transferred roughly $680 million to numerous bank/investment accounts in Europe, the Caribbean, and the United States. The indictment further alleges that in 2000, Rakita laundered roughly $250,000 in funds that he believed to be the proceeds of health care fraud.

The case was investigated by ICE, the FBI, and the IRS.Woman Affiliated with Guinea Embassy in Washington, D.C. Charged - On Nov. 15, 2004, ICE agents arrested Aissatou Pita-Barry, the owner of Guinex International, Inc. a D.C.-based illegal money transfer business that wired at least $5 million to the Middle East, Asia, and other locations around the globe. ICE agents also seized roughly $100,000 from the company's bank accounts and $19,700 in cash. Pita-Barry was in the United States on a Diplomatic Passport that authorized her only to work at the Guinea Embassy. As part of the investigation, ICE agents learned Pita-Barry allowed customers to make direct deposits into Guinex business accounts for transmittal overseas. According to the complaint, Pita-Barry typically charged a 10 percent fee for these services, but would charge less if "big" money was deposited for transfer.FARC Money Launderer Convicted - In 2003, Libardo Florez-Gomez was convicted of operating an unlicensed money remitting business and sentenced to 18 months incarceration. Florez-Gomez had arrived in Miami on a flight from overseas in October 2002. Upon his arrival, border inspectors discovered that he had failed to declare approximately $182,000 worth of Eurodollars. Inspectors also found documents that appeared to be from the Colombian government.

Those documents and subsequent investigation by ICE determined that Florez-Gomez was a major financier for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a designated terrorist organization. Florez-Gomez was later charged with operating an unlicensed money transmittal business and convicted.

Copyright 2005 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest GlobalCommunications Corp.
All Rights Reserved
Ottawa Citizen May 24, 2005 Tuesday
Final Edition

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1
LENGTH: 897 words
HEADLINE: NATO forces helped rogue soldier, but didn't see him hurtcaptives: Defence report details how Canadian-led troops fell for man's scam
BYLINE: David Pugliese, The Ottawa Citizen
BODY:Canadian-led NATO troops were aware that a U.S. mercenary they inadvertently helped last year was imprisoning Afghan civilians, but they didn't witness the captives being tortured, according to newly released Department ofDefence documents. The incidents involve the bizarre case of Jonathan Idema, an American soldier of fortune, who hoodwinked NATO troops led by Canadian Gen. Rick Hillier into thinking he was a special forces soldier.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Kabul provided the mercenary with bomb disposalteams that he requested after raiding Afghan homes and taking peoplecaptive. Mr. Idema was sentenced in September to 10 years in prison for detaining andtorturing Afghans after Kabul authorities raided the American's privatejail.

It was during those arrests that Afghan authorities said prisonerswere found hanging from their feet in the jail.Afghans held in captivity by Mr. Idema and his fellow mercenaries testifiedlast year they were beaten and had boiling water poured over them. Mr. Idema denied the allegations and said he used "standard techniques" for interrogating his prisoners. He called the trial a farce. The treatment of Afghans at the hands of American military forces was on theagenda yesterday when Afghan President Hamid Karzai met with PresidentGeorge W. Bush in Washington. Citing new allegations of the torture andmurder of an Afghan man held at the main U.S. military base at Bagram, Mr.Karzai had been pushing for the Bush administration to punish Americantroops found guilty of such abuse.

Mr. Karzai also requested his government be granted custody of the hundreds of Afghans being held in American military jails, both in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Mr. Bush, however, said Afghan prisoners would be returned "over time."Documents released by the Canadian Forces show Mr. Idema's arrest sentshock-waves through the NATO establishment with legal staff questioning thetype of assistance the mercenary had received from the alliance's ISAF. Theyalso questioned whether Mr. Idema, a convicted criminal and former Green Beret soldier, was receiving orders from ISAF and whether troops were aware of his activities as well as the names of the detainees he had taken intohis custody.The response was that ISAF helped Mr. Idema on three occasions in June withbomb detection specialists but only once did the troops see between five and10 people being taken prisoner.

The identity of the unit which helped Mr.Idema is secret, but it is not believed to be a Canadian unit. The records noted that at no time was the unit "involved in the handling of persons and the nature of their activities and their identity were unknownto (it) at that time."Mr. Idema called ISAF for assistance after his raids were completed,military officials wrote in the reports. Those involved thought Mr. Idemawas a U.S. special forces operative."No one at that time knew this guy was a mercenary," said Canadian Forces spokesman Capt. Darren Steele. "Until it came out this guy was a mercenary, to the soldiers involved these were perfectly legitimate requests received through the chain of command."Capt. Steele noted that even though he was ISAF commander, Gen. Hillier would not have been involved in the approval of orders to provide support for Mr. Idema.

Although the Citizen had requested the records specifically discussing Mr.Idema, Defence Department access to information officials removed his name from the documents to safeguard his privacy. Both his arrest and trial havebeen well publicized in the U.S. news media. The flamboyant Mr. Idema hasalso been featured in the best-selling book, The Hunt for Bin Laden, which claims he fought in Afghanistan with the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. Defence Department officials also appear to have removed Gen. Hillier's name from the records, again citing privacy.This is not the first time the 48-year-old Mr. Idema has been in trouble with the law.

He spent several years in prison in the U.S. for fraud afterhe was found guilty of bilking more than 50 companies out of $240,000. Atthe time, he claimed those legal troubles were part of a U.S. governmentcoverup, arising from the fact he discovered a plot by Islamic extremists topurchase nuclear components from Russian scientists. According to Mr. Idema,U.S. authorities wanted to keep details of the plot under wraps.In 1997, he was back in court, this time suing film director StevenSpielberg.

Mr. Idema claimed the main character in the movie The Peacemakerwas based on him. His claim was dismissed by the court. Mr. Idema has always insisted he had Pentagon support for his activities in Kabul and that he was hot on the trail of al-Qaeda. He claimed he was indirect contact by fax and e-mail with the office of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Bush administration officials, however, have gone out of their way todistance themselves from the bounty hunter, saying that he was operatingindependently.Mr. Idema blamed the FBI for being behind his arrest in Kabul, claiming hewas embarrassing the agency because his methods were uncovering valuableal-Qaeda intelligence.Capt. Steele said he did not know why ISAF did not originally try to checkout Mr. Idema's identity before helping him. But he added that there arelarge numbers of foreign soldiers with various organizations operating inKabul.

LOAD-DATE: May 24, 2005

DISCOURAGED FORWARD!

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