Jack Idema is dead.
I met this colorful character in the lobby of the Hotel Tajikistan in Dushanbe in November 2001. I was on my way into northern Afghanistan and the HT was the headquarters for reporters covering the Taliban’s last (ha–we thought) stand in north, around Kunduz.
Like all con men, he was vague about his affiliations. He claimed to be on deep cover, an unacknowledged member of U.S. Special Forces working with the Northern Alliance. It wasn’t implausible; he certainly did maintain contacts with both organizations and seemed to be able to pull a few strings here and there.
His interest in me was to try to get my paper, the Village Voice, to run a story about how the Pentagon was refusing to provide proper medical aid to America’s Afghan allies. Naturally I requested proof: people to interview, documents, whatever could help verify his story. All he did was talk. A lot of bluster, much of it including threats about how his Special Forces buddies would track me down and murder me and my family if I ever crossed him.
Having been bullied and beaten as a kid, I wasn’t impressed. And so, finally, the morning I headed for the border, Jack handed me a floppy disc. “Give this to anyone and you WILL die in pain,” he promised.
I carried it to Afghanistan with me. Kept it dry as I forded rivers. Kept it away from the pernicious Afghan dust. Got it back safe and sound to Tajikistan, then Turkey, then New York. Where I popped it into my Mac. And a friend’s PC.
It was blank.
5 Comments.
Colorful character? He ran his own private torture chamber in Iraq. His ex-girlfriend referred to him as a sociopath. Yeah. Colorful.
So the color was red.
I put that link in for a reason. I assume everyone can read about him and draw their own conclusions. Dude was a nut. And a colorful character.
I’m glad my interaction with him was brief.
I remember floppy discs being very unreliable. I never used them to back up anything–only to move data from computer to computer (and I always had my fingers crossed that they wouldn’t spazz out).
It’s possible the disc had something on it when he handed it to you. But we’ll probably never know.
It’s possible, but as I recall the disc was blank, not unreadable–which was usually happened when they failed.
Yeah, I think you’re right. They did mostly just become “unreadable.” Or the files would become corrupted. But I seem to remember a few occasions when files just would disappear.
Anyway, it’s a good story–either way.