GANGSTERS & OUTLAWS > COPS & OTHER CHARACTERS

Jonathan Idema: Our Man in Kabul

Official Sanction?

But others stridently insist that Idema may have had more official sanction than anyone in a position of authority is willing to admit. They point to the recent controversy over allegations of a secret intelligence operation in the Pentagon under Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld was assisted by General William Boykin, the military leader who sparked a firestorm of outrage last year when he seemed to cast the struggle against certain elements of militant Islam in decidedly religious tones. According to Guardian columnist Sidney Blumenthal, Boykin claimed that "Satan wants to destroy this nation, he wants to destroy us as a nation, and he wants to destroy us as a Christian army." They note that during the several months he spent in Afghanistan last year, Idema was in contact with Boykin's office, and in several interviews last spring and summer with Stuff magazine, Idema steadfastly maintained that U.S. military authorities were well aware of his activities, despite their repeated denials.

The question of whether Idema had official authority for his operation in Afghanistan may never be positively settled. The U.S. government insists that he had none. Those closest to him insist that he had. But even if he did, it is unlikely that anyone other than Idema would ever step forward to take responsibility.

Even his supporters acknowledge that. As Kelch put it in an interview with Stuff magazine, "I don't know what he did, you know?"

"I mean, he discussed his operations with me," Kelch said. "I'm not going to tell you what he did...because I can't verify it. There will be no documentation that said what he did was true or not true. I mean I could tell you fifty stories about me and about my service in Vietnam and there's no way you can verify it, so what are you going to do?"

The way Kelch sees it, Idema's motivation for going to Afghanistan twice was more than a passion for self-aggrandizement, and even more than a desire to collect the $50 million bounty the U.S. government had placed on Osama bin Laden's head. It was, Kelch believes, a deep patriotic fervor. And if, while doing his patriotic duty, he could collect the multimillion dollar bounty that the U.S. government has placed on Osama bin Laden's head, "so what?"