U.S. had contact with rogue prison

KABUL, Afghanistan – U.S. military officials admitted Thursday that they once accepted a detainee from Jonathan Keith Idema, an American vigilante on trial in Afghanistan on charges of kidnapping and torturing eight Afghans he suspected of al Qaeda connections.

Idema, 48, a former special forces soldier from Fayetteville, N.C., went on trial Wednesday along with two other Americans. Idema claims they were part of a top-secret anti-terrorism unit sponsored by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s office at the Pentagon.

Part of his task, Idema said, was to round up Taliban and al Qaeda suspects and turn them over to U.S. or NATO forces.

The U.S. military previously had disavowed any connection with Idema, but Thursday a spokesman said U.S. forces had accepted one of Idema’s prisoners May 3 at Bagram Air Base outside Kabul.

“We accepted this detainee because Idema claimed the individual was associated with the Taliban,” said the spokesman, Marine Capt. Bruce Frame. The military held the man two months then released him July 4 after concluding Idema was wrong.

At the time of the detainee’s release, the U.S. Central Command issued a statement saying that Idema had “allegedly represented himself as an American government and/or military official.”

“The public should be aware that Idema does not represent the American government and we do not employ him,” the statement concluded.

Afghan police arrested Idema the next day, along with Edward Caraballo of New York and Brent Bennett, also from Fayetteville. At the time, police said, the Americans were holding eight Afghan men in a house in Kabul that doubled as their private prison.

All eight said they were tortured, starved and beaten by Idema and his men, whom Afghan authorities viewed as bounty hunters.

The Americans have denied the charges, and Idema said he felt “abandoned” by those he called his U.S. handlers.

A Pentagon official in Washington, Army Lt. Col. Barry Venable, reiterated Wednesday that Idema had no current ties to the U.S. government or military. As in the Central Command’s earlier statement, he didn’t flatly rule out past connections.

NATO commanders in Afghanistan have admitted that they worked with Idema at least three times, believing he led a legitimate special forces anti-terrorism unit.

The trial of the Americans and their four Afghan accomplices is scheduled to resume in two weeks. They face prison terms of five to 15 years.