Jonathan Idema

Military service Idema enlisted in the U.S. Army in February 1975. Two years after his enlistment, in 1977, he trained and qualified for the United States Army Special Forces.

According to his military record obtained in the course of his 1994 fraud trial, after serving one term in the Special Forces, Idema was not allowed to reenlist. He had received numerous negative remarks from superior officers, in addition to participating in three non-judicial punishment proceedings between April 29, 1976 and April 28, 1977. Idema was cited for "failure to obey orders, being derelict in the performance of his duty, and being disrespectful to a superior commanding officer." One superior officer, Captain John D. Carlson, stated that Idema was "without a doubt the most unmotivated, unprofessional, immature enlisted man I have ever known."

Idema was given an honorable discharge and allowed to join the United States Army Reserve 11th Special Forces Group working to provide logistical support.

Sometime in the early 1980s Idema founded Counterr Group (also known as US Counter-Terrorist Group), a business entity which, according to its website, specialized in expert training for counter-terrorism, assault tactics, and other security-related services. Counterr Group's legal status and ownership was questionable; according to a Soldier of Fortune article published in 2004, Idema was mentioned as the owner. The company website listed an address in North Carolina, but there was no record of the company's registration in that state. However, a company called "Counter Group, Inc." had been incorporated in 1997 by William L. London, a lawyer who represented Idema in several lawsuits. The status for this company was listed as "suspended" as of 2004.

Counterr Group Academy was operational for at least ten years, from the late 1970s to the late 1980s. It was based at a small airstrip south of Route 199 in Red Hook, New York. There were several permanent staff, as well as visiting staff, all under the direction of Keith Idema. At least ten formal courses of training were offered. These included basic firearm safety, offered to the general public, as well as pistol, rifle and shotgun programs in both assault and combat roles, offered only to active military servicemen and police. Rappelling, both with and without a firearm component, was offered at the on-ground rappelling tower. The facilities included both interior and exterior "Hogan's Alley" style environments, equipped with reactive targets. Courses consisted of both classroom study and field exercises.

All advanced training was in a live-fire environment. Combat and assault courses lasted for three days. Trainees, up to 20 per course, lived and slept on the premises. Nighttime courses were conducted with starlight scopes.

The only company in North Carolina registered to Jonathan Idema is Idema Combat Systems, which, according to state records, was incorporated in January 1991 and dissolved in July 1994. The websites for Counter Group are registered to Thomas R. Bumback, a business associate of Idema's who is believed to be the company's current director.

Idema also owned a company called Special Operations Exposition and Trade Show Inc., which hosted organized conventions for military equipment suppliers.

There are two other known companies, Isabeau Dakota, Inc. and Star America Aviation Company, Ltd., that have connections to Idema. The latter claims to be an aviation support company founded in July 2008 with operations based out of Dubai. Both companies are registered to William "Skip" London in North Carolina, but Isabeau Dakota is listed as a shell company; its last annual report, filed in 2002, identifies H. John Idema (Idema's father) of Poughkeepsie as president and sole officer, and it lists no significant assets or business activity. and the websites for Counterr Group and Star America Aviation are very similar, including the use of imagery depicting Idema in Afghanistan and prior to his arrest. Northern Alliance Assistance in Fayetteville, North Carolina was later listed as a dog kennel.

Legal issues In addition to his occasional entrepreneurial pursuits, Idema had a substantial criminal record. Over the years, Idema was charged with impersonating an officer, conspiracy, passing bad checks, assault, possession of stolen property, and discharging a firearm into a dwelling. In January 1994, Idema was arrested and charged with 58 counts of wire fraud, having allegedly defrauded 59 companies of about $260,000. He was convicted of the charges, sentenced to six years in prison (paroled after having served three years) and was subsequently ordered to pay restitution. and the U.S. government. A prominent lawsuit filed by Idema against Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks Studios contended that Idema was the basis of a character in the 1997 Dreamworks film The Peacemaker. The claim was dismissed, and Idema was ordered to pay $267,079 in legal fees.

On August 15, 2001, a jury awarded Idema $781,818 for property damage and $1 million for punitive damages. The award came after a jury decided that a property manager improperly sold some of his belongings while Idema was serving his fraud sentence. Two property managers were hired by Idema to take care of a building that housed equipment for two of his businesses, Special Operations Exposition and Trade Show Inc., and Idema Combat Systems. According to the lawsuit, equipment was missing, damaged or destroyed, and holes were punched in the walls of the building. Idema sued both property managers and their wives on April 10, 2000, but everyone except for one property manager was later dropped from the suit.

Afghanistan Entry and credentials Illegal entry into Afghanistan was one of the charges leveled against Idema and two other Americans accompanying him, former soldier Brent Bennett and television journalist Edward Caraballo. That charge was eventually dropped.

Idema first traveled to Afghanistan in November 2001 to conduct what he said was "humanitarian aid" work, when he was actually working for the National Geographic Channel with Gary Scurka. It was at this time that he involved himself in the research Robin Moore was conducting for his book The Hunt for Bin Laden.

According to Scurka, a reporter for CBS News, Idema contacted him a few weeks after the September 11 attacks and announced he was going to Afghanistan to do humanitarian aid work with Knightsbridge International and the Partners International Foundation, two aid groups run by former military personnel.

Idema, Scurka, and Greg Long (a member of the Partners International Foundation) traveled to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where they were arrested for visa problems and held in a cell overnight. The three were freed after their captors received a letter from the U.S. embassy in Uzbekistan, written by an officer in the Defense Attaché's Office, describing Idema and Scurka as "contracting officers from the Defense Department who arrived in Uzbekistan for an official trip." The letter, which was verified as authentic by the director of the Department of State's press office, was dated November 2, 2001, and asked Uzbekistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for help in issuing visas to Idema, Gary Scurka, and Greg Long.

Author Robert Young Pelton believes that Idema then used those letters and what appeared to be a falsified or modified military ID. Idema claimed he had a visa similar to those carried by U.S. Army Special Forces to convince the Afghan commanders and other people of his official status.

After Idema entered Afghanistan, both humanitarian organizations quickly became wary of Idema's intentions. In December 2001, Artis wrote to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command warning them of Idema's activities, stating:

In perhaps the most terse assessment of Idema's alleged involvement in Operation Enduring Freedom, Billy Waugh, senior CIA covert operative and decorated former Special Forces member who was part of the Agency-run "Jawbreaker" team, said:

Arrest, trial, and sentencing Idema and his associates Brent Bennett and Edward Caraballo were arrested on July 5, 2004 by Afghan police during a raid in which they found eight Afghan men, some hanging from their feet, bound and hooded in detention. The arrest of Idema occurred only about three months after 60 Minutes II broke the story about the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal.

Idema claimed to have had private contact with Lieutenant General Boykin and several other senior Pentagon officials, and at his trial introduced taped conversations with staff of General Boykin's office, although not directly with Boykin himself. He claimed his group had prevented assassination attempts on Education Minister Yunus Qanuni and Defense Minister Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim. He also claimed the FBI interrogated several militants captured by his group and that after his arrest, the FBI removed from his premises hundreds of videos, photos, and documents. Some of the pieces were later returned to Idema and his defense team.

The DoD's only official contact with Idema was accepting one prisoner who was held for a month by the U.S. military, but added that officials declined his offer to work with the government in capturing terror suspects in Afghanistan. In early 2004, Idema was in contact with Heather Anderson, the Pentagon's Acting Director of Security. Anderson was under the supervision of the chief official responsible for intelligence matters in Donald Rumsfeld's office. Idema told the Afghan court that Anderson commended his work, but Anderson said she later turned down Idema's request to work in Afghanistan for the Pentagon. Idema continued to contact Anderson's office in hopes of establishing a relationship.

Idema, Caraballo and Bennett were charged with entering the country illegally, running a private prison, and torture. Idema and Bennett's sentences were later cut to five and three respectively. Caraballo claimed he was filming Idema and Bennett for a documentary on counterterrorism. Four Afghans working with Idema were sentenced to between one and five years imprisonment.

Caraballo was later pardoned by President Hamid Karzai and returned to the United States. Bennett was released early for good behavior on September 30, 2006.

Caraballo's lawyer said that the day before Caraballo left Afghanistan, Caraballo and Bennett lived in a filthy 6x8 ft. cell with four suspected Al-Qaeda members; the American prisoners were moved to a different prison for better protection. In a more recent assessment, the cell in which the prisoners lived was described as "posh".

Amnesty and refusal to leave prison On April 10, 2007, the Associated Press reported that Idema would soon be released from prison and then sent back to the United States, and that the Afghan government had granted him amnesty. However, under the amnesty that commuted his sentence he was effectively released on April 4.

Idema refused to leave the prison, first demanding that his passport, personal effects, and documents that he claimed proves his official connection with the U.S. government, be returned to him. According to him, he was owed compensation for $500,000 worth of equipment, mostly computers, weapons, and cameras, that was confiscated by the Afghan government when he was arrested. Having obtained through the offices of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul a new passport and money to apply for a visa to India, Idema insisted that his belongings be returned and that a pet dog previously owned by Bennett be allowed to travel with him.

Idema also filed another lawsuit against the U.S. government, reaffirming allegations initially made in 2005 that he and his associates had been illegally imprisoned, except now with the additional claim that he had been tortured. According to U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, "Petitioners allege that United States officials ordered their arrest, ordered their torture, stole exculpatory evidence during their trial and appeal, exerted undue influence over Afghan judges, and either directly or indirectly ordered judges who found petitioners innocent not to release petitioners from prison." This was a shift from the earlier strategy on the part of Idema to exonerate himself on the basis that he was acting on a Pentagon-approved mission. Instead the focus was on the trial itself, specifically whether or not due process was observed, with the added claim of being a torture victim. In both instances Idema accused the U.S. government of deliberately withholding information.

Judge Sullivan subsequently ordered the FBI and the Department of State to answer the allegations. Attorneys from the United States Department of Justice requested the case be dismissed on the grounds that Idema's sentence had been commuted. Idema's lawyer said the government coordinated Idema's amnesty to avoid having to respond to allegations of misconduct.

Idema's allegations of withheld evidence were originally made during his Afghan trial in 2004. When the men were arrested in early July, the tapes were confiscated by the FBI. Caraballo's lawyer, Michael Skibbie, claimed that he was only allowed to access a portion of the tapes weeks after he requested access. Several of the tapes were used; however, Skibbie said several important tapes were damaged, missing or partly erased after the FBI took custody of them. Some of the footage Skibbie obtained was shown in court. The court tapes showed Idema being greeted at an airport by high-ranking Afghan officials, Idema being thanked by Qanuni, security forces working with Idema, captured suspects confessing during interrogation, and ISAF forces helping Idema. His arrest warrant and publicity surrounding charges were picked up by Mexican and American media.

According to Alesi, he had also claimed to have had nine wives, although only one of them may have been legal. At his death, he was listed as having no immediate survivors. Since Idema's questionable history has come to light, the news media has been criticized for its willingness to distribute any content or information coming from him.

Controversies At the center of the controversy is Idema's claim that he was in Afghanistan on behalf of the U.S. government and that he was an advisor to the Northern Alliance. At other times, Idema told people he was in Afghanistan doing humanitarian work or that he was a "security consultant" for journalists.

Many believe Idema to be a con artist or impostor, based on his refusal or inability to demonstrate verifiable proof for his claims, on legal records that contradict his assertions about his background, as well as on a prior conviction for mail fraud and a history of criminal activity. Some have suggested that he may also be delusional in having concocted a fantasy-type personality for himself as a highly trained covert operative combating international terrorism, despite a brief and mostly non-notable military record (which states that Idema was in the Special Forces strictly in a support capacity). This opinion was echoed by Major Scott Nelson, the U.S. military spokesperson in Kabul at the time of Idema's arrest in 2004. The judge in Idema's 1994 fraud trial also questioned Idema's psychological state and ordered him to undergo evaluation prior to his sentencing. The report said that while he was not "mentally ill", Idema had a "personality disorder which would affect his interaction with persons exhibiting similar traits, such as supervisors, attorneys, doctors, judges and other persons in positions of power or authority."

Idema was not without supporters, usually found among blogs sympathetic to his situation. The contributors to these blogs believed that he was being unjustly punished for actions condoned, if not officially sanctioned, by the U.S. military. However, there has been little support for Idema's claims in general media outlets. Indeed, many members of the media who encountered Idema while they were on assignment in Afghanistan regard him as a fraud.

The lack of credit given to Idema prompted Scurka and Caraballo to begin making a documentary film with the working title, Any Lesser Man: The Keith Idema Story. According to promotional materials, the documentary was to be "the real story of one lone Green Beret's private war against KGB Nuclear Smuggling, Soviet spies, Arab terrorists, and the FBI." It was never completed.

September 11 attacks On the day following the attacks, Idema gave an interview as a "counterterrorism adviser" to KTTV, the Fox network affiliate in Los Angeles. During his news appearance, he claimed that the hijackers might have seized three Canadian jetliners, in addition to four American planes.

Idema made more money from the same tapes when he sold the rights to rebroadcast the Al-Qaeda training camp footage with still pictures to The Boston Globe, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, BBC, and others.

State-sponsored terrorism Idema sought to show that he had inside knowledge of Al-Qaeda's collaboration with state governments. For instance, he made suggestions that there was collaboration among North Korea, several Middle-Eastern countries, and Al-Qaeda, and that there was ample evidence linking "Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia to Al-Qaeda and to the attacks on September 11," and that in Afghanistan, the link between Iraq and Al-Qaeda was "common knowledge." He also said that Iraq under Saddam Hussein was a supporter of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations "with money, with equipment, with technology, with weapons of mass destruction." He also claimed to have firsthand knowledge of nuclear weapons being smuggled from Russia to Iraq, Iran, and North Korea.

Media coverage Soldier of Fortune Magazine had two articles, one called "LOOSE CANNON ON TARGET: Special Forces NCO Battles Federal Bureau of Intimidation" in March 1995 and "SPIKING A LOOSE CANNON: FBI Uses KGB Tactics To Jail SF Operator" in April 1995 Task Force Dagger: The Hunt for bin Laden , by The Green Berets author Robin Moore, had sections devoted to Idema. They referred to him as a special forces operative named "Jack" (he was also featured on the book's cover). Unknown to Moore, Idema had added a number of fictional episodes to the book that he would later use to support his claims. In the manuscript Idema also included appeals for donations to charities listed under his and his wife's address. He managed to do this by altering the final manuscript without Moore's consent before it was sent to the publisher. Random House quietly dropped the book from print after publishing what had become a work of fiction that even its author had disavowed. On June 25, 2022, video blog Oki’s Weird Stories released a documentary about Idema, titled The King of Stolen Valor, featuring previously unseen materials and original eyewitness testimonials, on their YouTube channel. Soldier of Fortune Magazine had two articles, one called "U.S. Bounty Hunter On Trial In Afghanistan After A Lifetime of Skating On The Edge, Has Keith “Jack” Idema Finally Slid Over?" in November 2004

Death Idema died of AIDS on January 21, 2012, in Mexico.

FBI investigation Documents released under the FOIA show that the Department of Justice and the FBI had been conducting an active investigation of Idema from 2005.