Men claim that senior U.S. and Afghan officials knew of their covert operations
An Afghan court sentenced Jonathan "Jack" Idema and two other Americans to lengthy prison terms Wednesday, finding them guilty of running a private prison and torturing Afghan detainees in what the defendants claimed was a legitimate operation to round up terrorists.  Idema, 48, of Fayetteville, N.C., the group's leader and a former member of the U.S. Army Special Forces, was given a 10-year term, as was his younger associate Brent Bennett. A third man, Edward Caraballo, a journalist, received eight years, while four Afghan employees of the group were sentenced to between one and five years. The defendants, represented by two American lawyers, presented several videotapes and documents in court that appeared to strengthen their claim that senior U.S. and Afghan officials knew of their covert operations and in some cases assisted them. U.S. military authorities here have denied any involvement with Idema and his associates aside from receiving one prisoner from them; Afghan officials who dealt with them have said they believed the group was operating with U.S. government approval. [more ]