Kabul
An Afghan court sentenced two Americans to 10 years in prison last week for illegally holding and torturing Afghans. The two, former Green Beret Jack Idema, 48, and former Army serviceman Brent Bennett, 28, said they were part of a secret Pentagon counterterrorist group. Edward Caraballo, 42, a journalist who said he was filming a documentary about the counterterrorist operation, was sentenced to eight years. “This can only have been staged by the U.S. government,” said Caraballo. “We were an embarrassment.” At the trial, the men were not allowed to play most of Caraballo’s videotapes, which appeared to show their conversations with aides to Gen. William Boykin, a top Pentagon intelligence official. A Pentagon official acknowledged that Idema had contacted several Pentagon offices, including Boykin’s, seeking to pass along intelligence information. But the official said the Pentagon neither directed nor encouraged the operation.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The Pentagon faces an uncertain future with TrumpTalking Point The president-elect has nominated conservative commentator Pete Hegseth to lead the Defense Department
-
This is what you should know about State Department travel advisories and warningsIn Depth Stay safe on your international adventures
-
'All Tyson-Paul promised was spectacle and, in the end, that's all we got'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
