American on trial for private "war on terror" claims Rumsfeld link

[LTR]

I guess you'd call this a DIY war. What's the deal with the Rummy connection?

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1512&u=/afp/20040721/wl_afp/afghanistan_us_crime_040721150745&printer=1

KABUL (AFP) - A US citizen in court charged with running a private "war on terror" in Afghanistan claimed he and two other Americans were working with the full knowledge of US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Jonathan Idema, who denies charges he detained and tortured Afghan citizens without US government consent, said they were hunting terrorists under the auspices of the Pentagon and said they had since been abandoned by US authorities.

"The American authorities absolutely condoned what we did, they absolutely supported what we did. We have extensive evidence of that," said Idema, who is on trial with his subordinates Brent Bennett and Edward Caraballo.

US-led coalition forces have disavowed all ties with Idema, while international peacekeeping troops said they were duped into helping Idema's team, who wore US-style uniforms, believing they were legitimate special forces operatives.


(more)

[lectrobyte]

1. This is a pretty strange story, I'm starting to think that anything is

possible with Idema -- interesting story on his background here http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1439026p-7563028c.html

[LittleApple81]

2. Rumsfeld - Idema Idema - Rumsfeld - hmmm Whom to believe? IDEMA

Whenever Rumsfeld opens his mouth, he is lying.

[thebigidea]

3. coughcoppergreencoughcough

THE GRAY ZONE
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH

Rumsfeld reacted in his usual direct fashion: he authorized the establishment of a highly secret program that was given blanket advance approval to kill or capture and, if possible, interrogate “high value” targets in the Bush Administration’s war on terror. A special-access program, or sap—subject to the Defense Department’s most stringent level of security—was set up, with an office in a secure area of the Pentagon. The program would recruit operatives and acquire the necessary equipment, including aircraft, and would keep its activities under wraps. America’s most successful intelligence operations during the Cold War had been saps, including the Navy’s submarine penetration of underwater cables used by the Soviet high command and construction of the Air Force’s stealth bomber. All the so-called “black” programs had one element in common: the Secretary of Defense, or his deputy, had to conclude that the normal military classification restraints did not provide enough security.

The people assigned to the program worked by the book, the former intelligence official told me. They created code words, and recruited, after careful screening, highly trained commandos and operatives from America’s élite forces—Navy seals, the Army’s Delta Force, and the C.I.A.’s paramilitary experts. They also asked some basic questions: “Do the people working the problem have to use aliases? Yes. Do we need dead drops for the mail? Yes. No traceability and no budget. And some special-access programs are never fully briefed to Congress.”

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040524fa_fact