Vigilante (Idema) fooled Nato into helping raids

[UpInArms]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=541131

An American vigilante caught running a private torture chamber in Kabul fooled Nato soldiers into joining illegal raids with him three times, the military admitted yesterday.

Jonathan Idema, a retired US Special Forces soldier, called bomb-disposal squads to buildings where he seized Afghans. The Afghans were later found hanging upside down in his secret prison.

A spokesman for Isaf, the Nato-led peace- keeping force, said Idema, who was in US uniform, had been "very credible". Isaf eventually realised the US military task force Idema and two other foreigners said they belonged to did not exist.

Commander Chris Henderson said: "They were operating in military style, with US flags on their shoulders, and representing themselves in such a way that Isaf believed them to be who they said they were." Special Forces soldiers in Afghanistan wear a mix of civilian and military clothing and adopt a buccaneering style.

Commander Henderson said explosive traces and suspicious electrical components had been found at two of the places Idema called Isaf to. He said the Afghan intelligence service is now handling the arrests.

...more...

[riverwalker]

1. Idema basically was a terrorist

a free agent, paramilitary, kidnapping, torturing, not legally working as a representative of any nation. He was an "insurgent" and a "militant". Why isn't he in Gitmo?

[Wwagsthedog]

2. Just who are the "two other foreigners"?

Has any "news" source mentioned their country of origin?