True Patriots

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/07/09/afghan.prison/index.html

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.Holding people without charges?
Rummy must be blushing with delight!

Americans held over 'fake prison'
Friday, July 9, 2004 Posted: 6:16 AM EDT (1016 GMT) 

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Afghan authorities have arrested three American
citizens accused of running a fake prison in Kabul, U.S. State Department
and Afghan officials say.
Afghan government officials raided a rented house in the capital late Sunday
where the three Americans lived. They found a private prison inside the
building that contained eight prisoners, a Ministry of Interior official
said Friday.
The raid came after Afghan citizens reported their family members missing
over the past several months.
At a news briefing Thursday, State Dept. spokesman Richard Boucher
identified all three as American citizens, noting "the U.S. government does
not employ or sponsor these men."
He identified two of the men as Jonathan Idema and Brent Bennett, but could
not release the name of the third because he had not signed a Privacy Act
waiver.
Idema and his colleagues told Afghan authorities they were operating the
prison because they wanted "to take part in the war on terror," the Afghan
official said.
The Americans did not torture their prisoners, but did administer "some
beatings," the official added.
The three men are being interrogated by Afghanistan's intelligence agency.
They are not being held in prison but in a residential area.
The eight prisoners are also being debriefed by the agency, and the
government is trying to find several Afghans who were allegedly helping the
Americans, the official said.
The arrests came as the U.S. military investigated allegations of detainee
abuse in Afghanistan at the hands of American jailers.
That investigation was prompted by outrage after photographs of abuse at
Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison captured international media attention.
Boucher said officials from U.S. consular offices in Kabul visited the
Americans on Tuesday and Thursday.
When asked if they were being treated fairly, he responded "we're monitoring
their welfare."
Idema and his colleagues rented the house near Kabul's Intercontinental
Hotel, and told neighbors that they were operating an export company that
traded Afghan rugs, the Afghan official said.
The Americans were mainly detaining men with long beards on the outskirts of
Kabul who they suspected -- based on their appearance -- to be members of al
Qaeda, the interior ministry official said.
Idema and his two colleagues would then interrogate the prisoners in an
attempt to get them to confess they were members of the terrorist network,
the official said.
If charged, the official said it was unlikely that Idema would be tried in
the Afghan judicial system, but would be handed over to U.S. custody at some
point.
The official said the story would "definitely have a negative impact on the
image of Americans" among Afghans.

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