U.S. admits bounty hunter contact7/22/2004 4:00:00 PM GMT American, Jonathan Idema, charged with running his own private prison in Kabul. Source: BBC The U.S. military has admitted it detained an Afghan man handed over by a U.S. 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 U.S., which said it had had no links with the American mercenary. Jonathon Idema is facing charges of torture, kidnapping and running a private jail. "We did receive a detainee from Mr Idema or his party," said Major Jon Siepmann, spokesman for the U.S. 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. They claim 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. U.S. forces have disavowed all ties with Idema, while international peacekeeping troops said they were duped into helping Idema's team, who wore U.S.-style uniforms, believing they were legitimate special forces operatives. Eight prisoners were freed from a makeshift jail in Kabul they are alleged to have run. Mr. Idema said that he and two other Americans were working with the full knowledge of the U.S. defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, and that the U.S. government had abandoned him. "The American authorities absolutely condoned what we did, they absolutely supported what we did. We have extensive evidence of that," said Idema. Idema admitted running a counter-terrorism operation under deep cover for some months and had handed fighters he had detained to the U.S. forces for further questioning on several occasions. He said that in May he had handed over a man to the U.S. authorities whom he claimed was as a Taliban intelligence chief. The suspect was released a month later when U.S. officials decided he was not who Mr. Idema said he was. The American went on trial on Wednesday with two other compatriots, Edward Caraballo and Brent Bennett. They faced charges of torture, kidnapping and running a private jail. 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 attempts of terrorist attacks and said he had regular e-mail, phone and fax contact with Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld's office and other senior Pentagon officials. "We were in contact directly by fax, and email and phone with Donald Rumsfeld's office, with the Deputy Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, and with Kevin Anderson, a four-star rank officer level at the Pentagon." Idema said that Anderson had offered his group a defense department contract but he had declined. "We did not want to go under contract because that would meant that we couldn't work with the access to Northern Alliance people we were working with," he said. Idema also claimed that his group had prevented assassination attempts on Education Minister, Yunis Qanooni and Defense 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. Four Afghans arrested with the Americans also stood for trial on Wednesday. After the charges were read out, a lawyer for one of the Americans - Mr Caraballo - asked for the trial to be delayed by at least two weeks so the defense could be better prepared. Presiding Judge, Abdul Baset Bakhtyari, allowed the request and adjourned the case for 15 days. None of the Americans spoke officially in court on Wednesday but three witnesses did appear. They were from among the eight Afghans who were found at the private jail the Americans were said to be running. One, Sher Jan, said: "They pulled me out of my house one morning, hooded me and broke a rib with a gun... They poured hot water on me too." Another detainee, Ghulam Sakhi, said that he was seized while in a taxi en route to Kabul from northern Laghman province. The vehicle was searched and he was bound, hooded and taken to a private jail by Idema and his Afghan associates. While in captivity, Sakhi, was scalded with boiling water, had his head repeatedly forced under water and was kicked so badly on his chest he was left with breathing problems, he told the court. U.S. news reports said Idema was a bounty hunter who had spent time in jail for fraud, formerly fought with Northern Alliance forces in Afghanistan and may have been hunting senior Al-Qaeda leaders in the hope of claiming the substantial rewards on offer. Correspondents say the U.S. bounty for al-Qaeda fugitives has drawn many foreign vigilantes to Afghanistan. The U.S. government has promised $25m for anyone who facilitates the arrest of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. U.S. forces in Afghanistan are already under fire from rights groups for their mistreatment of detainees in Afghanistan, one of whom died while in custody. Thoughts?
The Dirty Harry of anti-terrorism. I have no problems with what he did, we're in a war and mercs are bound to be more brutal.
I have no problem with what he did. Most often PCM's can get jobs done faster and cheaper than state sponsored military. I don't doubt that the US government had full knowledge of this operation either. Kind of a sticky situation if they did though, and full denial is what one would expect. Nothing surprising here. My guess is that this will fade away and people will forget.
Boba Fett was hella cool. But that was a movie. I kinda would like to think mercenaries are a thing of the past. We've enough people in the world who would kill for profit already.
Look on the bright side: In a year or so this is gonna make for one hell of a video game. At least, they better make a video game out of this. That guy looks much cooler than Gordon Freeman, and that's saying a lot.
The mercenaries. Unless, of course, the prisoners have been genetically engineered to have superhuman telekeneic power. Seriously, just look at this: The resemblance is striking, no?
