Free Republic

The lawyer for Jonathan Keith ''Jack'' Idema said Tuesday that he doesn't think Idema can get a fair trial in an Afghan court. Idema, who is from Fayetteville, has been held in an Afghan jail since his July 5 arrest on charges of kidnapping and torturing Afghan citizens. Two other Americans, Brent Bennett of Fayetteville and Ed Caraballo of New York, are being held with him. Idema has been identified as the leader of the group. He has said he and the others were hunting down terrorists. A hearing in a Kabul court for the three men was set to...

Three Americans charged with running a private counter-terrorism operation in Afghanistan (news - web sites) are set to reappear in court to face charges they jailed and tortured eight Afghan citizens. Jonathan Idema claims that he and two other Americans and a group of Afghan employees were working with the full knowledge of US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to hunt down terrorists in Afghanistan. Both the US and Afghan governments have disavowed any ties with Idema and his two co-defendants Brent Bennett and Edward Caraballo. The case has shone a spotlight on the shadowy world of security and counter-terrorism in...