KABUL, Afghanistan – Three Americans accused of torturing prisoners at a private jail played videos at their trial Monday showing a top Afghan official pledging his full support to the alleged vigilantes, then sending his security force on a raid with them.
The videos, and another showing NATO peacekeepers in a separate raid, were part of the defense’s effort to prove the counterterrorism operation had the backing of the Pentagon and Afghan officials and was not a rogue mission as the prosecution alleges.
Jonathan “Jack” Idema, Brent Bennett and Edward Caraballo face up to 20 years in jail if convicted on charges of kidnapping and torture. Four alleged Afghan accomplices are also on trial.
The crowded courtroom was chaotic and often farcical, with translators struggling to keep up with a running stream of shouted commentary from Idema, the prosecutor and witnesses sitting in the gallery. At times, the translators got caught up in the moment, offering their own opinions on statements made by the two sides, and drawing sharp objections from the defense.
Idema wore dark sunglasses throughout the proceedings in the dim courtroom. He is conducting his own defense, and frequently shouted objections based on his interpretation of the Afghan constitution and criminal code.
Judge Abdul Baset Bakhtyari had planned to issue a verdict Monday, but instead adjourned the trial for a week to allow Bennett more time to get an attorney.
Michael Skibbie, a lawyer for Caraballo, showed a video of former education minister Yunus Qanooni congratulating Idema and offering his help in arresting terrorists. Another video showed a raid involving Idema’s team and a man identified as Qanooni’s chief of security.
“Any cooperation, we are ready. We have a small security group,” Qanooni says on the tape in broken English. The tape was recorded sometime between Idema’s most recent arrival in Afghanistan, in April, and his arrest on July 5.
Idema claims his activities were sanctioned by high-level Pentagon officials and says the Afghan government was also fully behind his efforts to track down terrorists. He says the FBI has abandoned him in embarrassment at the torture allegations and because it felt he was showing them up.
The prosecutor, Dawari, conceded Idema had contacts with Afghan officials, but he said they arose from the Afghans’ mistaken belief he was a legitimate operative backed by the U.S. government.
The U.S. military insists the defendants were operating without its knowledge and outside the law. Still, the American military has acknowledged receiving from Idema a prisoner who was subsequently released.
NATO peacekeepers, known as the International Security Assistance Force, also say they were duped into helping Idema’s team on three raids in Kabul, on two of which explosives were found.
Video of one of the raids was shown in court Monday.
“Does the court think that ISAF would send me 50 soldiers and 10 vehicles if they didn’t know who we were?” Idema asked. “ISAF knew exactly who we were.”
Idema, from Fayetteville, N.C., has a checkered history. He was in the Army from 1975 to 1984 and received some special forces training. In 1984, he was convicted of fraud for bilking investors in a fake company out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. He spent three years in federal prison.
At one point, he sued Steven Spielberg over the 1997 movie “The Peacemaker.” He claimed the special forces operative played by George Clooney was modeled on him. A judge dismissed Idema’s claim and ordered him to pay $267,079 in attorney fees.
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