[Stoner]

More neocon antics,

Seems the neocons are denying one event after another.
Getting 'disappeared' in Afghanistan........
Can Bush dodge this bullet, too? Just have to wait and see, It's an election year, I wonder who the designated scapegoat is?

LINK

Pentagon admits link to vigilantes
KABUL—The U.S. military admits it took into custody an Afghan prisoner turned over by three Americans who were later charged with kidnapping and torturing detainees at a private jail.

The admission that U.S. forces accepted and held the Afghan man for at least a month follows vehement denials from the defence department that it had dealings with Jonathan (Jack) Idema and his two co-accused.

It's an embarrassment for the Pentagon, which has suffered its own prisoner abuse scandal and is now forced to deny Idema's claims that he kept its officials — right up to U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld — in the loop about his terror-fighting activities.

Three of Idema's former captives, including a judge, told an Afghan court Wednesday they were beaten, doused with boiling water and left without food in an attempt to get information from them.

Maj. Jon Siepmann acknowledged yesterday that the military had received a detainee from Idema's group at Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, on May 3.

Siepmann said Idema, a former soldier once convicted of fraud, appeared "questionable" the moment he presented the man. That suspicion grew as interrogators realized the detainee was not the Taliban suspect that Idema had claimed, he added.

"That doesn't mean at the time that we knew Mr. Idema's full track record or other things he was doing out there," Siepmann said. "This was a person who turned in a person who we believed was on our list of terrorists and we accepted him.''

Siepmann said the man was released after a month, but a U.S. military statement issued later yesterday said he was freed only in the first week of July. The military denounced Idema as an impostor on July 4.

Siepmann said officials were investigating whether Idema had other contact with the 17,000-member U.S.-led force here, but insisted: "We did not commission him to go out and look for terrorists.''

Siepmann declined to identify the detainee or the fugitive he was mistaken for. He said it was unclear how Idema approached Bagram, or if he asked for anything in return for the detainee.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai was "concerned" about the men's activities and any contacts with U.S. forces, said his spokesman, Jawed Ludin. "As far as we know, what they were doing was unlawful.'' Afghan security forces seized Idema, Edward Caraballo, Brent Bennett and four Afghans on July 5 after freeing eight prisoners from a makeshift jail in Kabul.

Associated Press

[Ciberblade]

I thought the designated scapegoat was Bush.

[Stoner]

Probably a coin toss..................

[Ciberblade]

Heads: Bush wins...
Tails: Kerry Loses?

[Stoner]

Heads Bush is guilty
Tails Bush is guilty

[Ciberblade]

I'm so shocked

[DNeurococo]

Here is another story on the same subject, which I think gives more detail:

Trial of Alleged U.S. Vigilante Begins in Kabul

Jonathan Idema, who is accused along with two other Americans, says the Pentagon had full knowledge of his detention of Afghans.

By Hamida Ghafour, Special to The [Los Angeles]Times / July 22, 2004


KABUL, Afghanistan -- An American accused of running a private jail and torturing Afghans suspected of terrorist activities insisted at the opening of his trial here Wednesday that he had been working with the full knowledge of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's office.

Jonathan Keith Idema, a retired Special Forces soldier, told reporters outside a Kabul court that he worked for the U.S. government, was in contact with the Pentagon and had the documents to prove it.

He and two other Americans were arrested July 5 after Afghan authorities raided a house in a residential neighborhood of Kabul, the capital, and found eight Afghan prisoners, some hanging from their feet.

Idema and his colleagues -- Edward Caraballo, who Idema said was a journalist, and Brent Bennett -- deny the charges, which include torture and illegal detention of citizens.

"The American authorities absolutely condoned what we did, they absolutely supported what we did. We have extensive evidence to that.... We're prepared to show e-mails and correspondence and tape-recorded conversations," Idema said before the trial. "We were in contact directly by fax and e-mail and phone with Donald Rumsfeld's office."

The American military, the U.S. Embassy and North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials here have said Idema did not work for, or on behalf of, the American government.

In Washington, officials said Idema obtained contact information for the office of Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen A. Cambone, and subsequently sent a series of faxes and e-mails to Cambone's office and that of his deputy, Army Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin.

Officials would not describe the nature of his correspondence and said only that he offered to provide the Pentagon intelligence about the Al Qaeda terrorist network.

"He approached DoD to work for them," said one defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He was told his services weren't needed."

The $50-million reward offered by the U.S. for the capture of Osama bin Laden has attracted bounty hunters, mercenaries and private security contractors to Afghanistan. Many wear a mix of American military uniforms and civilian clothing, carry weapons and set up their own roadblocks. Their conduct, which is difficult to regulate, has caused problems for the NATO peacekeepers.

On three occasions, Idema persuaded troops with the International Security Assistance Force, the NATO-led peacekeeping mission, to help him carry out raids on houses where he seized Afghans, a NATO spokesman said.

Idema has claimed that he was a special advisor to the Northern Alliance, the Afghan coalition that helped the U.S. topple the Taliban in 2001.

He also has said he has been running a counter-terrorism operation for months and on several occasions has handed militants to the U.S.-led forces for further questioning. He has claimed to have foiled a number of assassination bids on senior Afghan Cabinet ministers.

Idema, Caraballo and Bennett did not testify during Wednesday's court appearance. Charges related to the illegal detention and torture of hostages were read during the two-hour session, which was slowed by the need for interpreters. The room was packed with people, most of them Afghans.

Three of Idema's alleged prisoners gave statements to the court. Ghulam Sakhi said he was stopped in a taxi on his way to Kabul from the nearby province of Laghman. The car was searched, and he was taken to the private jail run by Idema and his associates.

Sakhi said his captors poured boiling water on him and kicked him to the point that he now has difficulty breathing.

Judge Abdul Baset Bakhtyari adjourned the trial for up to 20 days to allow the three men and four Afghan associates to prepare a defense and find better interpreters.

Times staff writer Mark Mazzetti in Washington contributed to this report.

[DNeurococo]

Note that the L.A. Time story says:

“The American military, the U.S. Embassy and North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials here have said Idema did not work for, or on behalf of, the American government.”

While Stoner’s story says:

“Maj. Jon Siepmann acknowledged yesterday that the military had received a detainee from Idema's group at Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, on May 3.”

If Idema is capturing prisoners and turning them over to the U.S. government - - and the U.S. is accepting these prisoners, then I’d say that Idema is working of behalf of the U.S.

[JewisHeritage]

Originally Posted by DNeurococo

Note that the L.A. Time story says:

“The American military, the U.S. Embassy and North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials here have said Idema did not work for, or on behalf of, the American government.”

While Stoner’s story says:

“Maj. Jon Siepmann acknowledged yesterday that the military had received a detainee from Idema's group at Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, on May 3.”

If Idema is capturing prisoners and turning them over to the U.S. government - - and the U.S. is accepting these prisoners, then I’d say that Idema is working of behalf of the U.S.

ROFL ... DN is quoting NATO?? ....

DN, King Bush told NATO, the UN, the EU & just about the rest of the world to "go fly a kite" ... WE WILL GO IT ALONE! ...

What a BRILLIANT WAR PRESIDENT!