Tod Robberson; thief, liar, “journalist”

Tod Robberson is one of the members of the cabal intent on smearing Idema while he is put away in an Afghan jail. Robberson still works for, as far as I know, Dallas Morning News. Early on, when Flogging the Simian was still blogging on this subject of Idema, Tod Robberson made a trip to Afghanistan and under dubious circumstances, gained access to their jail cell while they were facing the Taliban court during their trial. He removed:

• A folder of attorney client privileged correspondence
• An 8-page letter to the Geneva Convention requesting POW status
• A letter to Brent Bennett from his family
• 12 pages of emails and letters from Jack’s wife sent through the American Embassy
• Two pictures of Jack’s wife
• Irreplaceable originals of documentation between Idema and the Ministry of Defense and/or the Pentagon
• Approximately 10 pictures of Jack and Task Force Saber personnel
• Two highly confidential cassette tapes

And then, in his overconfident arrogance, he left a note to make certain that Jack knew exactly who he was dealing with:

“Hi, Jack, I came to see you but you were out.” Written on a printout of Stacy Sullivan’s article, Desert Fraud, with his name circled.

Later, some of the documents that were stolen appeared on Flogging the Simian, where the writer there took the liberty to exercise some creative license with the treasure trove of documents he received.

Cramer’s pronouncements at her blog about the CJR case having been dismissed are rather bizarre, as it seems apparent at least to this writer that she is receiving that information through word of mouth rather than perusing the public documents regarding the case. But if she’d been the least bit interested in seeing what the other side of this story is, you would think she’d have obtained them somehow, like I have.

In the Declaration of Lieutenant Zorro Wahid Rasuli Banderas, there is some key information that people should pay attention to on Tod Robberson which shows you what kind of people we are dealing with:

• On October 19, 2004, I was taken to Kabul City for a court hearing. On October 20, 2004, I was in a court hearing in Kabul.
• On or about October 19-20, 2004, Tod Robberson, a correspondent for the Dallas Morning News, entered my living quarters at Pulacharke, where he searched, examined, and seized documents and property in violation of U.S. and Afghan law. Robberson is believed to be, or claims, he is the “European Bureau Chief” for Dallas Morning News.
• I learned of Tod Robberson when one of the Hezb-i-Islami, al-Qaida terrorists, showed me Robberson’s business card in late October, 2004, after Robberson went to Pulacharke Prison. The business card identified Robberson as the Dallas Morning News Europe Bureau Chief.
• Upon information and belief, Robberson traveled to Afghanistan in October 2004 for the Dallas Morning News. Further, it is believed that Robberson was working with two American women named Mariah Blake and Stacy Sullivan. Robberson gave their names and numbers to an Afghan translator and said he was working with them on a story which would “finally kill Jack Idema”.
• In late October 2004, Robberson traveled to Pulacharke. I learned from officials that, Robberson told Afghan officials that he was acting on behalf of the U.S. government and U.S. Department of Defense, and was there to “inspect” our living conditions. Afghan officials thought Robberson was an employee of the U.S. government. Robberson failed to explain he was a privately employed journalist. Further, it is believed that Robberson showed a DOD press ID card to confuse and defraud the officials at Pulacharke Prison.
• Thereafter, Robberson convinced Pulacharke officials that he was “authorized” to inspect our living quarters, and gained entry to our private areas for what he claimed was a “simple look”, claiming to be our “personal friend” who wanted to “make sure they were being treated well.” Once inside, according to an Afghan officer, Robberson asked to use our bathroom. Robberson closed the door to the bedroom, then conducted a complete search of private, confidential, and privileged documents under our beds.
• Robberson removed numerous documents, files, and photographs. The two boxes and four stacks of documents in our living quarters had been neatly stacked in folders and piles. Upon our return we discovered the stacks were messed up under the bed and had been clearly gone through. Upon detailed inspection we discovered that numerous documents had been removed. Items stold by Robberson included: A) letters between Jack Idema, Brent Bennet and Ed Caraballo; B) privileged family correspondence; C) attorney/client privileged correspondence; D) photographs; E) audiotapes; F) evidence in our case, including government documents to be used in an upcoming trial in our Afghan Appellant Court – which were irreplaceable, which would show we were innocent and working for our governments.

You can see part of this gaggle of geese honking at each other here, quoting Robberson’s piece entitled “Records seem to discredit self-proclaimed Special Forces expert…..” or something to that effect. The link that is given for the article no longer works. You will also see Ed Artis there proclaiming victory over Idema, saying that the lawsuit against ‘them’ – meaning him and Cafasso, presumably, -was dismissed, once and for all.

Next, I will examine some of the key players in the smearing of Jack Idema, which seems to be a ’cause’ or ‘campaign’ for these people.

My undying gratitude goes to: Perri Nelson’s Website, Basil, Cao, Samantha Burns, Ferdy, Pirate’s Cove, Third World County, Bullwinkle, The Amboy Times.

Looks as though the bleeding internets swallowed up my trackback pings.