US mercenary 'dangled Afghans upside down in private Kabul jail'

[DoYouEverWonder]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=539445

July 9, 2004

A freelance American bounty hunter who claimed to have been on the trail of Osama bin Laden has been arrested in Afghanistan for allegedly torturing prisoners after they were found dangling upside down in a private cell.

<snip>

His links to the US military and exact role in the campaign are a murky area. The book quotes the veteran US television journalist Dan Rather, who met Mr Idema in Afghanistan, describing him as "politically incorrect, abrasive, unconventional, and unquestionably heroic". Mr Idema says he almost captured Bin Laden during the siege at al-Qa'ida's Tora Bora cave hideout in December 2001.

But yesterday his buccaneering career appeared to have juddered to a halt and he was thought to be under interrogation by Afghan police, possibly in the city's notorious Waliat Jail. Hours before his arrest, the American military portrayed Mr Idema as a loose cannon. A spokeswoman said: "The public should be aware that Idema does not represent the American government and we do not employ him."

An unnamed Afghan official said that after the shootout with Idema and his men, the prisoners were found in a house that had been turned into a makeshift jail. They were hanging upside down and had been beaten. The men reportedly sported the bushy beards favoured by Islamic radicals, but it appeared they had no links to terrorism.

[goju]

1. I smell something funny here

CIA anyone?

[seemslikeadream]

2. smell here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x673846

[Media_Lies_Daily]

3. Try OSP.

[mitchtv]

4. 50 million $US

my guess

[shraby]

5. Google Jonathan Idema

Keith Idema,( Special Forces and Special Operations units from 1975 to 1992)
helped train
hostage rescue team personnel for both Delta Force
and the FBI and who spoke just days ago to a Delta
Force commando present at the final tear-gas assault,
says this statement shows how Delta Force cringed
over getting involved at Waco. "I believe that what
the Delta Force colonel meant was that he didn't want
to be directly involved in it; did not want to be
dragged into it. Delta Force operators, and Task Force
160 operators continually cautioned the FBI against
attempting an "open air assault" on the target, and
stated emphatically that they did not want to be
involved in firing on or assaulting American civilians,"
Idema said. "These official and unofficial comments
went ignored and, in fact, one Special Operations
Officer was threatened with court-martial if he
continued to protest," Idema added.

At another point in the document, Delta Force
personnel explained to Reno that Special Forces
encounters are almost always militaristic and involve
outright enemies who are often heavily armed. Delta
Force explained that their standard modus operandi
was, "The principles of surprise, speed and violence of
action were essential to any operation.
stated that momentum should be
maintained and that ground gained should not be
relinquished." Idema says "violence of action" usually
means "the killing of all hostiles."

With his trained eye, Idema says he can tell that
devices seen in pictures from Waco released this week
by the Texas Department of Public Safety have been
mistakenly identified by the department as gun
silencers and suppressors belonging to David Koresh
and his followers which were found inside the
compound after the fire. Idema says they are actually
concussion grenades manufactured by a company,
Defense Technology, and purchased by the FBI.

Idema also says the bright light seen on video footage
as flashing inside the building moments before the fire
broke out have been misidentified as a fire started by
Branch Davidian leader David Koresh, when, in fact,
to the trained eye of a Special Forces explosive expert
it is unmistakably the flash caused by a "concussion
grenade" that has been lobbed inside the compound. A
concussion grenade uses a brilliant flash and loud bang
to render an enemy in its vicinity blind, deaf and
immobile for a brief period during which commandos
can overpower them. Such grenades should be used
only for military purposes and were wholly
inappropriate, if not illegal to be used in a situation
involving women and children -- and any situation
where potentially inflammable tear gas was still
hanging in the air, the former Special Forces operative
said.

(more)
<http://homesteadingtoday.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1879>

you have to scroll down to find the whole article..it's in the one about Waco.

[seemslikeadream]

6. I already have

it's here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Hansen
Russia
Nuclear
Waco.........

it's all right here

[Moderator]

7. Please add your link and discuss here, thanks

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=672008