A US citizen appearing in court yesterday charged with running a private "war on terror" in Afghanistan claimed he and two other Americans were working with the full knowledge of US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Jonathan Idema, who denies charges he detained and tortured Afghan citizens without US government consent, said they were hunting terrorists under the auspices of the Pentagon and said they had been abandoned by US authorities. "The American forces absolutely condoned what we did, they absolutely supported what we did. We have extensive evidence of that," said Idema, who is on trial with his subordinates Brent Bennett and Edward Caraballo. US-led coalition forces have disavowed all ties with Idema, but international peacekeeping troops said they were duped into helping Idema's team, who wore US-style uniforms, believing they were legitimate Special Forces operatives.
Additional from BBC:
The US military has admitted it detained an Afghan man handed over by a US citizen accused of running a freelance counter-terrorism operation. A military spokesman said the prisoner was handed over by the American, Jonathan K Idema, in May. A BBC correspondent in Kabul says that the disclosure is embarrassing for the US, which said it had had no links with the alleged American mercenary. "We did receive a detainee from Mr Idema or his party," said Major Jon Siepmann, spokesman for the coalition forces. "The reason we received this person was that we believed that he was someone that we had identified as a potential terrorist and we wanted him for questioning," he said. But forces strenuously deny that Mr Idema was working for the military in any official capacity and insist that he is a mercenary.
| I suppose if anyone walked a prisoner in and said he was somebody we were looking for we'd hold them while we checked it out. |
They argue that they were not aware of Mr Idema's "full track record" prior to his arrest earlier this month along with two other Americans and four Afghans.
| Oh, I'm sure somebody was, if not everyone. |
Mr Idema argues that he was working with the knowledge of the US defence secretary, and that the US government had abandoned him. He said that in May he had handed over a man to the US authorities who he described as a Taleban intelligence chief. The suspect was released a month later when US officials decided he was not who Mr Idema said he was. Speaking to journalists before Wednesday's court proceedings, Mr Idema said he had evidence to prove he was working for the Pentagon.
He claimed to have helped prevent several attempted terrorist attacks and said he had regular e-mail, phone and fax contact with Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's office and other senior Pentagon officials.
| Sure you are. I think Johnathan K. has been smoking some of the local export crops. |
He said his group had prevented assassination attempts on Education Minister Yunis Qanooni and Defence Minister Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim. The BBC correspondent in Kabul says that while Mr Idema's claims are being treated cautiously, many feel that more details will emerge with every new development in this saga. |