Report: US admits contact with Idema
Former US soldier on trial for torturing prisoners in Afghanistan insists he worked for US.
An unnamed Pentagon official tells the
BBC that the US Department of Defense has
admitted having contact with former US special forces soldier Jonathan "Jack" Idema.
Mr. Idema was arrested in July and is currently on trial with two other American co-defendants for torture, kidnapping, and running a private jail in Kabul, Afghanistan. They face up to 20 years in jail if found guilty.
Idema has repeatedly asserted that he was working for the US military, a charge the US has denied.
Until now, writes the
BBC, the Pentagon has refused to acknowledge any contacts at all between itself and Idema. A Pentagon official reportedly told the
BBC that Idema spoke to Heather Anderson, the Pentagon's Acting Director of Security, by phone earlier this year. After checking Idema's background, Anderson called Idema back to refuse his offer to work for the Pentagon.
BBC cites the Pentagon official as saying that Idema "continued to contact the Pentagon by phone, fax, and email, 'trying to establish a relationship.'"
Jack Idema's US-based lawyer, John Tiffany, has rejected the Pentagon's version of events, describing them as completely false.
If they had rebuffed him, he asked, why did they keep taking his phone calls?
On the one hand, the Pentagon's admission could be seen as another concession to Mr Idema's story. On the other hand, it proves nothing more than that some telephone conversations took place.
Military spokesman Maj. Scott Nelson said Wednesday Idema "was
operating by himself [in Afghanistan] with the delusion that he was here to do great things for the world."
As
The Associated Press points out, the US military has acknowledged it accepted one detainee from Idema, but released the man after two months after it realized he was not the senior Taliban fighter Idema had claimed.
"Many observers have been troubled by the lack of clarity surrounding the military's acceptance of the suspect, and the fact it took two months for them to figure out the man was innocent and release him,"
AP reports.
Idema claims to have foiled a terrorist plot that would have killed two Afghan ministers, and to have been hot on the trail of Osama bin Laden. He also claims to have been severely beaten while in custody.
AP cited an unnamed US official Tuesday saying there is
no evidence to support claims Idema was beaten.
In 1994, Idema was convicted in the US of fraud connected to a military equipment firm he owned. He also unsuccessfully
sued film maker Steven Spielberg for allegedly stealing his life story for a commando character in the 1997 movie "The Peacemaker".
His trial resumes next week.
Also...
•
Prison abuse reports may insulate Bush from blame (
The Los Angeles Times)
•
A failure in leadership, all the way up the ranks (
The Washington Post)
•
Mark Thatcher 'was planning Texas move' (
The Guardian)
•
Yemen is warned of threat to ports (
Reuters)
•
A big man on a tightrope (
The Economist)
•
Dismantle the CIA? (
Slate)
• Feedback appreciated. E-mail
Matthew Clark.
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