BBC: Kabul Cuts Three U.S. Vigilante Sentences

[Hissyspit]

Somebody cut a deal...?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4396229.stm

Kabul cuts US vigilante sentences
A court in Afghanistan has cut by at least half the sentences of three US citizens jailed for torturing Afghans and running a private jail in Kabul. But the court rejected their appeal for the convictions to be overturned.

Jonathan Idema, Brent Bennett and Edward Caraballo were sentenced last September after a chaotic trial.

Branded by the US as a bounty hunter, Idema has said his work was approved by Afghan and US authorities, a claim that US officials have denied.

Idema and Bennett's sentences were reduced from 10 years to five and three respectively, reports quoted one of the four judges hearing the case as saying. Caraballo's was cut from eight to two years.

It is not yet clear why the sentences have been reduced.

MORE

[saigon68]

1. The "Mayor of Kabul" wants them released

The whole deal reeks.

[StaggerLee]

4. Big time

Like a three day old mackerel left out in the sun.

[saigon68]

5. They know a lot

I'm really surprised the whole thing wasn't covered up

[acmavm]

2. I was surprised they were ever sentenced at all, all things considered.

The stories they told about working for the bush** administration, in particular the geriatric stud muffin rumsfeld, was too damn good not to be based in some reality.

They were only tried and sentenced to hide the truth. Wonder what kind of place they've been kept and if they get different treatment from all the other 'prisoners'?

[Cooley Hurd]

3. Okay, so what Idema said was true (about working w/ US)...

...and this proves it.

Welcome to the new M.O. of America - A "Culture of Torture.":mad:

[Moderator]

6. kick to combine

[seemslikeadream]

7. Afghan Court Cuts Sentences for Jailed US Mercenaries

By Benjamin Sand
Islamabad
31 March 2005

A court in Afghanistan has shortened the prison sentences of three Americans jailed last year for running a private prison and torturing their Afghan captives.

...

The ruling revisits one of the more bizarre episodes stemming from the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Last September, the three men - all civilians - were convicted of running a rogue anti-terrorist operation in and around Kabul.


Two of the men, Jonathan Idema and Brent Bennett, are former U.S. soldiers. The third, Edward Caraballo is a New York-based journalist.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-03-31-voa18.cfm


Afghans uphold convictions for Americans jailed for freelance terrorist hunt

...

Jonathan Idema, Brent Bennett and Edward Caraballo were jailed last September after a chaotic trial that embarrassed U.S. and NATO forces and sowed confusion about clandestine American operations in Afghanistan.

At a closed-door session Tuesday, the appeal court upheld their convictions for torture and operating a private jail, according to Abdul Latif, one of four judges hearing the case. But it quashed the charge that they entered the country illegally.

The court cut the ten-year terms handed to Idema, the alleged ringleader, and to right-hand man Bennett to five and three years, respectively, Latif said. Caraballo, a New York journalist, will serve two years instead of eight.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2004/09/15/630486-ap.html

Green Beret J. K. Idema -- Just who the hell is this guy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=125&topic_id=9558#14241
Kabul bounty hunters search for bin Laden
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=125&topic_id=9558#14463

[sattahipdeep]

10. Wonder what that cost us....

:hi: seemslikeadream

http://www.freebo.com/begin_radio/begin.html

[seemslikeadream]

11. "I told General Boykin that you called.

The conviction of Jonathan "Jack" Idema was a foregone conclusion. To begin with, Idema, a paid mercenary, is dispensable. Second, by all accounts he was - despite denials - assigned to do the job by Boykin, who in turn reports directly to the under secretary of defense for military intelligence, Stephen Cambone. Had the charges been reviewed in depth at a fair trial, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and even Vice President Dick Cheney could have been implicated. While the high-ups condone and protect the methods applied by the lower ranks, but stay aloof from incriminating details, both Boykin and Cambone are certainly more vulnerable.

...

The Pentagon was clearly anxious to protect both Boykin and his boss, Cambone. As Seymour Hersh wrote in his article "The Gray Zone" in The New Yorker in May, Cambone was unpopular among military and civilian intelligence bureaucrats in the Pentagon, in essence because he had little experience in running intelligence programs; instead, he was known for his closeness to Rumsfeld. In 1998, Cambone had served as staff director for a committee, headed by Rumsfeld, that warned of an emerging ballistic-missile threat to the United States.

Cambone's name came up prominently during the Abu Ghraib investigations. He was recorded as saying that Boykin had briefed him on a report, which was prepared by Major-General Geoffrey Miller, on ways to improve intelligence-gathering at Abu Ghraib, that said Military Police (MPs) should help set conditions for the "successful exploitation" of detainees. Cambone went on to say that neither he, Miller, nor Boykin thought the report was "tantamount" to asking MPs to engage in abusive behavior.

Boykin, for his part, is a former commander of Delta Force. He goes way back to the aborted attempt to free American hostages in Iran under president Jimmy Carter, which sank Carter's re-election campaign in 1980. He was part of the commando unit that failed in the attempt to rescue the hostages held at the US Embassy in Tehran.

Boykin's fangs show
Boykin was also involved in Somalia, and a variety of hot spots around the world, including the first Gulf War in 1991. He is one of the most experienced special-operations commanders in the US military. It is not unlikely that he knows Idema at a personal, as well as at a professional, level.

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11556


:hi:

[sattahipdeep]

12. Dog Island Free Forever

Their dog is there, happy and free. ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1332757




:popcorn:

[daleo]

8. Figured this would happen all along.

Who knows if they are even in a jail.

[seemslikeadream]

9. Jack Idema's website - Super Patriots

http://www.superpatriots.us/index2.htm