BBC: "US offers olive branch to Taleban"

[bobthedrummer]

If they disarm they won't be targeted.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4062191.stm

Sheesh, UnoCal and others offered them more for an oil pipeline when they were in Texas in 1997.
http://www.rememberjohn.com/talibantexas.html

The Afghan oil plans were highly touted.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/TAL111A.html

And I know I'll never forget that the US public relations person for the Taliban was former CIA Director Richard McGarrah Helms niece, Laili Helms.
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0124/ridgeway.php

Also many Taliban and al Queda got away to save some ISI operatives.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/HER206A.html

Afghanistan is a DYN CORP narco-state today imo.

[brainshrub]

1. Dyncorpistan

[Trajan]

2. Time for another trip to Sugarland ? ...

Can it be that the Terroristic Muslim Extremist Iconoclasts of the Taliban will be feted, wined and dined by the Corporo-quasi-governmental conglomerate known as the Republican Party in Texas soon ? ...

The circle keepsaturnin ...

[bemildred]

3. So what happened to "we will hunt them down and kill them"? nt

[Flammable Materials]

17. Apparently they plan to kill them with kindness. n/t

[livinbella]

4. As an aside, heroin is now about 50 bucks a gram

Down from a high of around 380 in the early 1980s.
The price has really dropped since bush's grand re-opening of
Afghanistan.

[rodeodance]

7. If you can't beat em--Join em'

[leesa]

5. "If they disarm they won't be targeted" Who would believe the US when

they say THAT? I thought the Taliban no longer existed according to the First Fool.

[mazzarro]

12. Same with me - the Taliban was supposed to have been crushed

into oblivion - so said the war leaders!

[seemslikeadream]

6. “We consider this offer is an attempt to divide the Taliban,”

Taliban reject amnesty offer

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s Taliban militia spurned an amnesty offered by US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad on condition the hardline Islamic fighters lay down their arms, a report said Friday.

They ruled out any reconciliation and no Taliban would accept the olive branch, Latifullah Hakimi, who claims to speak for the group, was quoted as saying by the Afghan Islamic Press. “We consider this offer is an attempt to divide the Taliban,” Hakimi said in a statement to the Pakistan-based private news agency. Khalilzad on Thursday said that his offer was aimed only at “non-criminal” Taliban and would not include “international terrorists” or those who have committed crimes against humanity within Afghanistan.

Hakimi said the Taliban would continue their armed struggle. “Since US troops have invaded Afghanistan, there can be no reconciliation,” the Afghan Islamic Press quoted him as saying. “I am confident no Taliban will lay down arms,” he said. afp

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_4-12-2004_pg7_7

[rodeodance]

8. guess they want Carrots?--not olive branches??

[seemslikeadream]

9. those who have committed crimes against humanity within Afghanistan.

I guess that includes this guy?



Green Beret J. K. Idema -- Just who the hell is this guy


At the heart of their investigation is a former American special forces soldier, Jona than Keith "Jack" Idema, who is alleged to have run the private jail and was being questioned on Thursday night.
http://www.mg.co.za/content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=118432

FBI Agent Philip Hanssen Was Involved in the Idema Case.
FBI Agent, and Soviet Spy Philip Hanssen was involved in the Idema case. The American Green Beret claimed the CIA and FBI were compromised by the KGB. In 1993, the former Special Forces NCO, Idema, refused to give up the names of his agents in the Soviet Union, claiming the FBI and CIA were compromised, and his agents would be killed. Idema specifically named the Soviet Spies' FBI positions.

Green Beret J. K. Idema
in El Salvador 1984

Idema had pinpointed Soviet agents in the FBI and CIA in early 1994 conversations with former CNN Vice-president Ted Kavanau. Subsequently Aldrich Ames was arrested, and two years later, Earl Edwin Pitts. Idema has steadfastly insisted that there were other Soviet agents in the FBI, and specifically named them as formerly assigned to the New York Counter-intelligence Office - Team I-8. Now Philip Hanssen has been arrested. Yet the FBI and Clinton administration consistently prevented Idema from testifying in front of Congress- WHY? what were they hiding?

Hanssen had access to Idema's case information, and worked in New York Counter-intelligence. During the height of the Idema incident, Hanssen worked out of the Washington Field Office 1994), which directly dealt with Idema's information, he then went to the NSD in December 1994 (where he had continued access to Idema's case and his information.

PBN News is working to FOIA the documents linking Hanssen to Idema and the FBI's botched investigation of the nuclear smuggling incidents. Other news agencies are encouraged to pursue FOIA requests for documents linking Hanssen to the 1993-1996 Russian nuclear smuggling investigations
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:36_oZcH_I3cJ:www.nev ...

July 08, 2004 -- 04:10 PM EDT // link // print)
Weird, weird, weird ... Late reports out of Afghanistan say that an American named Jonathan Idema was arrested with others for conducting a "self-appointed counterterrorism mission

that included abusing eight inmates in a private jail by hanging them by their feet."

Jonathan Idema is apparently the same guy as 'Keith Idema' who was a short-term commando celeb in Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002 appearing on various TV networks. He also turns up in various jails or suing Steven Spielberg et al. for stealing ideas for a movie script he and others allegedly wrote.

The US military has gone to great lengths to disassociate itself from Idema since he was apparently putting himself forward as some sort of US special forces operator or contractor. A statement from the US military said "the public should be aware that Idema does not represent the American government and we do not employ him."

Indeed, "security sources" tell the BBC that the "US military circulated warning notices about Mr Idema some time ago, describing him as armed and dangerous and accusing him
more
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com


Heart Of Darkness

"When I looked at these tapes, I said, ‘ My God, this is the same kind of stuff that we did in 1980.'"
Keith Idema, a former member of the U.S. special forces

60 Minutes II obtained these tapes from Keith Idema, a former member of the U.S. special forces. He is a Green Beret. He says he went to Afghanistan as a civilian military adviser to the Northern Alliance and was with them as they pushed towards Kabul.

“When they came across the Shomali Plain to this compound,” Idema says, “they found a lot of documents. They had gotten the tapes right away but they were scared to bring the tapes forward. And they were scared to tell anybody they had them.”

Although Northern Alliance soldiers had described the trining tapes to him, Idema says he was surprised when he finally took a look.

“When I looked at these tapes, I said, ‘My God, this is the same kind of stuff that we did in 1980,” he says referring to the United States’ elite military units. “So are their skills as good as ours? As good as the U.S. special operations community? The answer is no. Clearly, man for man, we’d wipe them out. But they’re not coming against us; they’re coming against regular civilians and that’s clear in their training. They don’t use military tactics. Their training is not as sophisticated as ours, but it’s not designed to be.”

more
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/16/60II/main3245


Green Beret J. K. Idema
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=125&topic_id=9558&mesg_id=14241&page=
Kabul bounty hunters search for bin Laden
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=125&topic_id=9558&mesg_id=14463&page=
Threads on Idema
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=125&topic_id=9558&mesg_id=18255&page=

[MrPrax]

13. Idema?

Operation Desert Fraud

How Keith Idema marketed his imaginary Afghan war.

By Stacy Sullivan

"...he source of the tapes, a former U.S. Special Forces soldier named Jonathan Keith Idema�known familiarly as Keith�was more than a little dubious. Idema claimed to be working as an adviser to the Northern Alliance, but he was also an ex-con who had served three years in federal prison for wire fraud and had a criminal record in three states. He was, in addition, a serial litigator who had once sued CBS...."

"...Special Forces soldiers, other journalists, and Army Intelligence immediately questioned the tapes' authenticity. Tracy-Paul Warrington, formerly a chief warrant officer with U.S. Special Forces who now advises American police forces on counterterrorism, says the tapes are not an intimate look at anything "except clumsy military playacting." "Eighty-five percent of terrorists' attacks in the last decade have been bombings," Warrington says. "In this film we see raids. This was a method that went out in the seventies, when Idema was in the Army. I was looking at seven hours of tape of something that Al Qaeda doesn't do"..."

"...Just days before Idema's arrest, CBS News received a video feed from this same Kabul house of horrors, featuring Idema in U.S. Army fatigues and brandishing an assault rifle as he arrested supposed terror suspects. Idema had been in regular contact with Dan Rather since 2002,� says Idema�s lawyer, John Edwards Tiffany, of Bloomfield, New Jersey. "Rather was planning to go over to Afghanistan to interview Idema again before his arrest because he hoped to get access to the Al Qaeda suspects my client was capturing."..."

---

A great longish investigative piece that casts many many questions on this rather dubious and perhaps insane egotist. The above allegation that CBS news might have advanced warning of Idema's activities is equally interesting and should be further investigated.

http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/people/features/10121/index.html">New York Metro Link

[seemslikeadream]

14. Thanks MrPrax , would you check your link please though?

It's a keeper


I found it
http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/people/features/10121/

Thanks :hi:

[VivaKerry]

19. Who wants olives when you can have SMACK?! nt

[salin]

10. Speechless

the difference in how we have treated those involved (indirectly, and perhaps more directly) with the attack on the US.... versus those who had no involvement - is astounding to me. And the lack of awareness of fellow citizens who think that this administration has their (the citizens') best interest at heart in their war on terrorism/national security... astounds me even more.

[Cocoa]

11. dems should run the "Wolves" ad against Bush

recent developments which should frighten the security moms (what happened to them anyway...)

-- republicans block the intelligence bill

-- hunt for bin Laden called off

-- cutting deals with the Taliban

[Deja Q]

15. Didn't the Taliban offer surrender some time ago and the US said 'NO'?

Obviously, the US wants to move some troops elsewhere.

[Stella_Artois]

16. Now the fools have their hands full elswhere.

The hapless idiots have bigger problems now. How often is Osama-Bin-Forgotten mentioned these days ?

[NNN0LHI]

18. This should only be under the condition they stop beating women with sticks

At least when the cameras are rolling anyway. As for shooting women in the soccer stadium? I am sure we can work something out during the days when there are no games planned. Thats about the truth of it too.

Don

[VolcanoJen]

20. Not LBN... moving to General Discussion

This article was first published on Thursday, December 2, and no longer qualifies for posting in the Latest Breaking News Forum (news items can be no older than 12 hours at the time of posting).

Please continue this discussion in the thread's new location, the General Discussion Forum.

Thanks!

VolcanoJen
DU Moderator

[Karenina]

21. Well, VJ

You're SO ON IT. The issues here do need some GENERAL DISCUSSION! ;-)

:loveya:

[Octafish]

22. Colin Powell gave them $43 million for all the "Poppy" crops.

Robert Scheer reported in May, 2001. It's a miracle he's not in the hospital, writing what he did...

Bush's Faustian deal with the Taliban

Robert Scheer - CREATORS SYNDICATE

05.23.01 - Enslave your girls and women, harbor anti-U.S. terrorists, destroy every vestige of civilization in your homeland, and the Bush administration will embrace you. All that matters is that you line up as an ally in the drug war, the only international cause that this nation still takes seriously.

That's the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to Afghanistan, to be distributed by the an arm of the United Nations. The Taliban, who rule Afghanistan with an iron fist and will almost certainly be able to control the distribution of the aid to their political advantage, are the most virulent anti-American violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to other recent aid, makes the U.S. a major backdoor sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that "rogue regime" for declaring that opium growing is against the will of God. So, too, by the Taliban's estimation, are most human activities, but it's the ban on drugs that catches this administration's attention.

Never mind that Osama bin Laden still operates the leading anti-American terror operation from his base in Afghanistan, from which, among other crimes, he launched two bloody attacks on American embassies in Africa in 1998.

Sadly, the Bush administration is cozying up to the Taliban regime at a time when the United Nations, at U.S. insistence, imposes sanctions on Afghanistan because the Kabul government will not turn over Bin Laden.

CONTINUED...

http://www.workingforchange.com/printitem.cfm?itemid=11252

[HeeBGBz]

23. "members of the Taleban who disarm will not be punished"

Too bad the Fallujah population didn't get that deal.