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BONUS: The Insane Story of Jonathan Idema
🕑 Added 2025-11-05 13:57:10 +0000 UTCJonathan Idema, a former Green Beret (kind of) turned conman, grifter, and media personality created a freelance, private torture prison in Afghanistan all while managing to convince several people in multiple governments that he was legit in one of the weirdest stories from America's Global War on Terror.
Sources:
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/the-shadow-warrior-jack-idema-232967/
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/4656837?ft=nprml&f=12968368
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mercenaries-dupe-isaf-soldiers-in-afghanistan-1.483341
https://web.archive.org/web/20041027110556/http://www.pownetwork.org/phonies/phonies204.htm
https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/11/world/portrait-of-a-us-vigilante-in-afghanistan.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20061220222235/https://www.cjr.org/issues/2005/1/blake-soldier.asp
https://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/rip_jonathan_jack_idema_media.php
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3601030.stm
https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/10121/
Comments
Nicholas Matson
There is a red hook in downstate ny near poughkeepsie. He did not have a training camp in brooklyn
Alive Or Trees
Partway through, I realized I knew this story. Oki's weird story made a youtube documentary in 2022. It was wild and this podcast was a much more pleasant experience. Oki does great interviews but lacks the Unc energy that tom contributes
