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| Afghanistan/South Asia | |||
| Afghans Try Americans on Torture Charges | |||
| 2004-07-21 | |||
Three Americans accused of torturing Afghans in a private jail during a freelance counterterror mission went on trial Wednesday, with their ringleader denying any wrongdoing and claiming U.S. government support. Jonathan K. Idema, Brett Bennett and Edward Caraballo were arrested when Afghan security forces raided their makeshift jail in a house in Kabul on July 5. American and Afghan authorities say they were vigilantes posing as U.S. special forces and had no official backing. Appearing before a three-judge panel in a national security court, the trio listened quietly to the charges - including hostage-taking and torture, and as three of their ex-detainees described how they were beaten, doused with boiling water and deprived of food. The Americans didn't testify. But Idema said afterward that the abuse allegations were invented. He also said he was in regular phone and e-mail contact with Pentagon officials "at the highest level."
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| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 I went to school with one of these kids. You all are making comments about things you have no clue about. It's unbelieveable. It wouldn't be the first time our twisted government denied the truth. You all act as if our government is a honest group of people, who never lie or break the law. This wouldn't be the first time our government denied the truth |
| Posted by: Anonymous6004 2004-08-06 6:36:46 PM |
| #3 Sounds like some useless bounty hunting operation by some knob wankers. I hope they get anything that might be comming to them. |
| Posted by: FlameBait93268 2004-07-22 12:32:37 AM |
| #2 He also said he was in regular phone and e-mail contact with Pentagon officials "at the highest level." I have a lot of people that send e-mails to me as well. I don't think that the term frequent contact applies if the e-mail is only opened for the purpose of deletion. "an offer they refused." So they had no orders or purpose in their actions. Somebody better pass out some Cliff Notes to Heart of Darkness before allowing screening Apocolypse Now for the mentally deranged. Kurtz was supposed to be an abomination not a role model. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-07-21 9:18:22 PM |
| #1 Idema named a Pentagon official who allegedly asked the group to go "under contract" - an offer they refused. "The American authorities absolutely condoned what we did, they absolutely supported what we did," he told reporters crowding round the dock. Well if these guys weren't under contract (assuming I understand its application here), the Pentagon isn't really responsible for what they did, regardless of whether U.S. government officials supported them or not. ("support" in this case would probably mean verbal, which probably isn't going to amount to much) |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-07-21 1:54:54 PM |