Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Caraballo trumps Idema!

DISCOURAGED FORWARD! Junior Cape Crusaders Worldwide and our new trusty-side kick Award Winning Journalist Ed Caraballo!


Oh Jack can't stand it! Ed Caraballo trumped him on CNN! LOL! Whats the matter JackLynn can't stand that Caraballo got prime time over you? LOL! What Jackbo mad that Ed got on Anderson Cooper over you? Think Cooper is a nutcase to give you airtime! LOL!

The only thing we have to say is that Peter Bergen is correct its a complicated story alright. One Peter Bergen has no clue to.....Hey Bergen! Mr. Terrorism HotShot! How can you go on TV spitting this out and then tell others that everytime Jack opened his mouth you knew he was lying? Nice going Bergen....... Lets start by asking you this question. how does Jack Idema get a entry permit saying is and NGE Gary Scurka are DoD Contracting Officers? So Bergen besides your academic ego who in the Afghan Government did you speak too? USG? Bergen maybe you should stay as Professor Bergen and let the professionals do the reporting......

Anyway here is the CNN Transcript!

ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES
Interview With American Trapped in Afghan Prison Riot; New Orleans Celebrates Mardi Gras; Where Has Katrina Relief Money Gone?
Aired February 28, 2006 - 22:00 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And good evening, everyone. Thanks for joining us. Larry, even back in New York, they are getting into the spirit. Take a look -- The Empire State Building done up in the colors of Mardi Gras. It brings back a lot of memories, good ones, of course, also the scene on Bourbon Street, one small slice here of life in New Orleans. Bourbon Street is packed. In about three hours from now -- or two hours from now, the police will clear it. But, as for now, the party is in full swing, the scene, that Empire State Building, reminds us of all the New York City firefighters and police and doctors who came down here to New Orleans to be part of what turned into a national outpouring of health and kindness and goodwill. It's also really a reminder of how interconnected people have become and how little distance matters anymore.There's a flip side to that notion, of course.

I got a dramatic and chilling phone call today from an American, a former colleague of mine, who is in an Afghan prison, caught in the middle of a prison riot and fearing for his life. His name is Ed Caraballo. And you will hear that call in just a moment. How he got there, however, in the middle of danger, in a prison on the outskirts of Kabul is in a story of itself.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COOPER (voice-over): Pulacharke prison, it looks medieval, but was built when the Soviets occupied Afghanistan in the 1970s. The conditions inside, according to a U.N. report a couple of years ago, some of the worst on Earth. We don't know how many prisoners are actually in there. But we're told some 300 of them are members of the Taliban or al Qaeda. They began rioting over the weekend, after being told they were going to have to wear prison uniforms. Inside the prison, along with the rioters, veteran American cameraman Ed Caraballo.

RICHARD CARABALLO, BROTHER OF ED CARABALLO: The project that he was working on was a documentary on the war on terror.
COOPER: But Caraballo went to Afghanistan with Keith "Jack" Idema. Idema, a former soldier, billed himself as a counterterrorism consultant, but had a checkered past. Idema claimed he and his assistant, Brent Bennett, were working with the U.S. and Afghan governments to track down terrorists, which the U.S. government denies. But the Afghan government said Idema, who had named his group Task Force Saber 7, was acting on his own, running his own private prison. All three men were arrested, tried and convicted.After appeal, Caraballo got a two-year sentence. His brother says he didn't get a fair trial.

R. CARABALLO: He's just a -- a filmmaker shooting a film.
COOPER: Idema was able to run this Web site from his cell, actually giving updates on the riot. Caraballo gave up the relative comfort of that cell and began distancing himself from Idema. He converted to Islam and moved to a different cell block, home that was taken over by the rioters. R. CARABALLO: I'm worried sick.
COOPER: Richard Caraballo is worried about his brother, worried that, despite Ed's conversion to Islam, he will be targeted by some of the prisoners who want to send a message to the Americans.
R. CARABALLO: He's -- he's the perfect brother. Through rough -- rough times in life, he has been there for me. And I have tried to do the same for him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: I worked with Ed Caraballo for years at ABC. He has never shied away from the hot spots. And this is certainly one of them. He's a long way from home, in the wake of rioting, barricaded against other prisoners, some of whom may wish to hurt him. He is under stress, to say the least, and possibly under duress, from people or forces unknown. Keep that in mind for the next few minutes, as we play back Ed's call to me earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EDWARD CARABALLO, JOURNALIST: They rioted and took prisoner two officers, women, wives of two police officers.And, yesterday, they -- I believe, today, they released those hostages. And, also, they out the wounded. There were four people killed, three people killed in block two and one person killed here.
COOPER: And -- and where are you right now? What is your situation?
E. CARABALLO: I'm in my room. I have a private room that the Afghan police provided me with, because I'm an American, and there has been many threats against my life here. So, they keep me pretty well protected.
COOPER: And -- and you're literally barricaded in your room right now?
E. CARABALLO: That's correct, Anderson.
COOPER: What happens? I mean, what happens now? Are you -- obviously, your life is in danger.
E. CARABALLO: Well, I have been -- I have been -- they..
COOPER: Are they threatening you?
E. CARABALLO: At first, when -- when they first took over this block, and the police (AUDIO GAP) calmed them down, they shot some of the -- they shot into the (AUDIO GAP) more upset, and they ripped down all the gates. So, all the -- all the floors are open to all -- you know, the gates are all open. Every -- the prisoners are all walking around, heavily armed, with chains and knives and whatever they can -- they have to -- to fight. And now they're afraid that the police are going to storm in and kill more people. So, today, you know...(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: The...
E. CARABALLO: You know, I had been walking -- I had been walking a -- a thin line, Anderson, because everybody -- you know, all the prisoners know I have a mobile. And I have been letting whoever, whatever prisoner call -- call their family to let them know they're OK. And that has been able to -- so, I have been able to keep my mobile. They sort of see me as one of them, so, because I'm Muslim, so, they -- they haven't bothered me. But they -- they said, it's nothing personal, najib (ph). You know, we know you're our brother, but you -- we want to talk to the American ambassador.
COOPER: What -- what is it that they want the Americans to do or the American ambassador to know?
E. CARABALLO: They want to stress that they were not trying to escape. They were just protesting conditions here.
COOPER: The last report that we had was that Afghan units had actually pulled back from the perimeter of -- of the prison. It didn't look like -- according to this last report I read, it didn't look like that they were going to try to move in. Have you seen any efforts to regain control of the prison?
E. CARABALLO: No. I -- I -- and the American -- the American authorities -- I have spoken to the U.S. consul, Adrian Harchek (ph). I have been in contact with her constantly throughout the past couple of days. She has done a really good job at keeping me safe. But she says the Americans can't extract me, that that's not their -- their job. It's up to the Afghans.
COOPER: Well, how much more do you have on your sentence, Ed?
E. CARABALLO: Four months.
COOPER: It is said that there are many al Qaeda prisoners in this prison. Is that the case? I mean, can you describe what that is like?
E. CARABALLO: Well, there are two blocks, block one, which has the criminal side, and block two, which has the al Qaeda, political criminals. And it's block two that started the uprising. And they're in communication (AUDIO GAP) this block and that block, in communication just by yelling from (AUDIO GAP) floor to each other.
COOPER: How close are you to the al Qaeda prisoners?
E. CARABALLO: Right outside my door, Anderson.
COOPER: They're right at your door?
E. CARABALLO: That's correct.
COOPER: What do you want people to know, Ed?
E. CARABALLO: Well, I want people to know that...(LAUGHTER)
E. CARABALLO: I don't know. I -- I just want to just -- I -- I would say to the American forces or any -- or the Afghan forces that they should not storm the prison at this point. The prisoners just want to get their message across, and they have asked me to do that for them. So, I'm calling -- I'm allowing the media to call me and ask me any questions they have.
COOPER: Is -- is there anything else you -- you want to get across?
E. CARABALLO: I love my family very much. And tell them I'm safe right now. (LAUGHTER) E. CARABALLO: And I don't blame anybody for this, if anything happens to me. I just -- I'm just a journalist that -- in the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: With us now in Washington, Peter Bergen, CNN terrorism -- terrorism analyst. Peter has actually been to the prison. Peter is the author of the book "Osama" -- "The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of the World's Most Wanted Man."Peter, you have been to this prison. What is it like?

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, it's pretty dreadful. I -- I actually spent a fair amount of time with Ed Caraballo and Idema and Brent Bennett on two occasions, in October of 2004 and January of 2005. And one of the things that disturbed me my first trip there was that we were in a -- a waiting room in which people were coming and going. And, at one point, we were told to leave, you know, worrying for our safety. There were Taliban, al Qaeda in the prison block. And, then, a month later -- actually in December, there was a very serious riot there, Anderson, as you may recall, in which the Americans in the prison were targeted. Four members of al Qaeda, one an Iraqi and three Pakistanis, were shot to death in that much smaller riot, which was really directed at the Americans. But this is an extremely dangerous prison, where there have been riots before. And we're seeing, again, a -- a very worrisome situation for the prisoners, and particularly the Americans, in the prison.
COOPER: What was Ed Caraballo doing, and what was this guy Keith Idema doing?
BERGEN: Well, I mean, that is a -- a complicated tale. According to the United States and the Afghan governments, they were running some sort of freelance operation with a private prison in Kabul. I wrote a piece for "Rolling Stone," looking at some of those allegations. And I have got the tell you that I -- having gone into it thinking that there was some truth to these allegations, I came away thinking the picture was much more complicated, that the U.S. government, elements of it, did know what the Americans were doing. They certainly had some say-so from fairly senior Afghan officials that what they were doing was the right thing. And, also, they were finding terrorists. And, then, the trial that actually ensued was in -- was pretty farcical. It was not a -- you know, the sort of trial that you would get in the United States. Certainly, the Afghan judicial system is very weak. Their trial -- the sentences of these guys were very high, initially 10 years each, in the case of Idema and Bennett, eight years for Caraballo. They have been reduced.As Ed said to you in the phone call just now, his -- he has only got four months to go. It would be a horrible tragedy if something were to go wrong so near the finish line for him. He has already had to put up with so much already.
COOPER: I -- I found it incredibly chilling when I asked him where the al Qaeda prisoners were, and he said they were right outside his door.
BERGEN: No doubt. I mean, I -- I went through some of those cells. And some of the people that I saw, they all looked like, you know, Mullah Omar's brother. It was clearly -- there were a lot of Taliban in the prison. You mentioned the figure 300. I think that's a good one. And these are -- this is the most hard-core prison in the Afghan prison system. This is the sort of -- the Florence, Colorado, or the Fort Leavenworth of the Afghan prison system, except that it's -- doesn't really have the security that's needed. And, you know, the Afghan state obviously can't really sustain this prison. It's -- it's just not working at the moment.
COOPER: Peter Bergen, appreciate you joining us. Thanks for your perspective.


DISCOURAGED FORWARD!

4 comments:

kender said...

Wow, what an awesome disconnect from reality you must have. Do you hallucinate?

Even Bergen states the same things as Jack has said and still you focus on al-carabello the cowardly and his call for help....how absolutely fascinating.

Living within that skull of yours must be a very entertaining crew of delusional spinmasters that, if real, would be the envy of the most accomplished old political lackey.

kender said...

BTW, where's my outing , bitch?

kender said...

If you send me one more threatening email I will report you to the authorities.

Stupor Patriots said...

Kender call anyone you want since we don't send e mails. If there is anyone stalking its you and we have your e amils and postings to prove that! Don Oldman........

Now Don go play with momma or find something to do with your life besides play acting the Jerk!