Name: Jonathan K. Idema Age: Does it matter?
N Nationality: American Claim to fame: A bounty hunter playing soldier in Afghanistan
Wearing dark sunglasses and a khaki army shirt with a US flag on the shoulder; as he appears in court Jonathan Idema oozes confidence despite the possibility that he may well end up spending 15 to 20 years in an Afghan prison. Acting as his own lawyer, this former Special Forces soldier, convict, author and media hound, is right now standing trial in Kabul, charged with running a private jail there and torturing its Afghan inmates on no authority but his own.
Idema is standing trial with two co-defendants, Brent Bennett and Edward Caraballo, a cameraman, and four Afghans. These men were arrested last month from a house in the west of Kabul where they were allegedly running a private prison and counter-terrorism operation, apparently hoping to score the millions of dollars on offer for the capture of top Al-Qaeda suspects, including Osama bin Laden. However, this is not the defendant’s version.
Idema has insisted that he was on a legitimate counter-terrorist operation endorsed by both American and Afghan officials, and that he thwarted several terrorist plots. He also told the court he hunted alleged terrorists with the knowledge of the US government. Washington and the Pentagon denied that Idema worked for them after he was arrested.
“Everyone knew what we were doing. We were not in the United States military but we were working with the United States military,” he said. Jonathan alleges that the FBI has taken from the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) hundreds of videotapes, photos and documents detailing his links with the FBI, the CIA and the US Defence Department. Without such key evidences, he claims he will not be able to prove his story.
Much of the trial hinges on whether American and Afghan officials approved his detentions and interrogations in a Kabul house, and on whether he stopped multiple terrorist plots, or invented them. Afghan officials have confirmed that Jack Idema met with at least two cabinet ministers. The American military has acknowledged receiving one detainee from him, who was subsequently released, and the Pentagon has acknowledged receiving phone calls from him.
Idema strange journey began in 2001. He had arrived in Afghanistan alongside US invasion forces and formed close ties with members of the Northern Alliance. While he has been unable to substantiate his claims that he was in close contact with the office of Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. He clearly had contacts with the many security forces now in Afghanistan. US-led coalition forces and NATO-led peacekeepers said they were duped into helping Idema’s team, who wore US-style uniforms, believing they were legitimate special forces operatives.
Showing off his gun and occasionally firing them, Jack travelled with a handful of young, armed, Afghan men whom he ordered about, often shoving cash into their hands and waving a knife at them while theatrically laughing with maniacal glee. As a result of his menacing behaviour, most foreign journalists avoided Idema and referred to him as an unreliable troublemaker who liked to brandish weapons and play soldier amid the anarchy of war.
For his part, Idema claims his real goal was to “build a security force in Kabul with a whole bunch of (US) former special forces guys” to help the Afghan government train Afghans in “professional soldiers’ skills” so they could be bodyguards and commandos in a new, democratic Afghanistan. With the problem of security being such in Afghanistan that even the US-led forces and international peacekeepers stay close to their bases, anyone with a gun can do as he pleases and people like Jonathan Idema thrive.
Wearing dark sunglasses and a khaki army shirt with a US flag on the shoulder; as he appears in court Jonathan Idema oozes confidence despite the possibility that he may well end up spending 15 to 20 years in an Afghan prison. Acting as his own lawyer, this former Special Forces soldier, convict, author and media hound, is right now standing trial in Kabul, charged with running a private jail there and torturing its Afghan inmates on no authority but his own.
