Posted on 07/14/2004 10:28:18 AM PDT by TexKat
KABUL (Reuters) - NATO-led forces in Afghanistan were tricked into helping a group of U.S. vigilantes hunting for militants and who were arrested for illegally detaining Afghans, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
Three U.S. nationals were arrested last week after a brief shootout in Kabul. They and some Afghan accomplices had been illegally detaining and interrogating people they believed to be terrorists, Afghan officials said.
The group had asked for, and received, help from members of Afghanistan's NATO-led peacekeeping force, who believed they were members of a genuine military task force, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
ISAF explosive disposal teams had inspected a compound occupied by the group three times in June and had found traces of explosives and some suspicious electronic components, said a spokesman for the NATO-led force, Chris Henderson.
"The ISAF personnel believed that he was what he purported to be, that he represented a special operations agency," Henderson said, referring to the group leader Jonathan, or Jack, K. Idema, whom the U.S. military says had passed himself off as a U.S. government or military official.
The group members wore U.S.-style military uniforms with U.S. flags on their shoulders and the ISAF personnel believed them to be genuine, Henderson said.
"They believed they were providing legitimate support to a legitimate security agency.
"We made a mistake," he said.
The arrests have been a headache for foreign forces in Afghanistan when the U.S. military has been under scrutiny for its treatment of suspected militant prisoners.
The U.S. military has been accused by U.S.-based Human Rights Watch of "systematic" abuse of detainees.
U.S. military spokesmen have said the group was not acting on behalf of, or in conjunction with, U.S.-led forces and international forces and did not condone their activities.
They had been illegally holding eight people, including several with beards of the type favored by militant Muslims, police said.
Afghan authorities are holding Idema and the other members of his group. They have yet to release details of their investigation into the group or the men who had been illegally detained.
I wonder what type of beard, due to the fact that I have seen a couple of guys with beards that I am concerned about here.
The house in which three Americans used to stay is seen in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, July 8, 2004. Three Americans were arrested on Monday, during a raid in Kabul. They were on a freelance counter terrorism mission that included holding eight inmates in a private jail, a senior official said Thursday. U.S. officials identified one of the men as Jonathan K. Idema, a purported former Green Beret who claims to have links with Afghan militia forces. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
yeah buddy...zz with their cheap sunglasses :-)
When you are offering $25 million dollar bounties, you are inviting free-lancers and free-lancing. Its dishonest to pretend otherwise.
So, while we don't want our free-lancers going on a rampage and torturing innocents, and if thats what they were doing, they need to be slapped down, but the whole purpose of offering a reward, whether we admit it or not, is to attract free-agents to act who can do what we can't officially do.
"Should you or any of your IM force be captured or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions."
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