Jailhouse Jack took Delhi connection

[seemslikeadream]

MASEEH RAHMAN

Posted online: Monday, September 27, 2004 at 0211 hours IST

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From the rest of his testimony, it was obvious that the reference was to the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) under the control of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Before coming to Kabul on his latest visit (he has been to Afghanistan earlier via Central Asia to team up with the Northern Alliance), he said he ‘‘went to the Indian Embassy in Washington, where I was told it would take six days to issue a visa’’.

He brags he pulled strings. ‘‘A senior official in the Department of Defence then requested the military attache, a general, in the Indian Embassy to issue me a visa,’’ Idema said. ‘‘After a conversation with the Consul about how Afghans and Indians both disliked the ISI (Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency), I got my visa,’’ he added. ‘‘One of the reasons we were flying to Kabul from New Delhi was to prevent the ISI from tracking us,’’ claimed Idema.

The American was well looked after in Delhi. With a flourish, his defence lawyer from New York, John E. Tiffany, produced a Hotel Ashok bill to prove that Idema, Bennett and Caraballo stayed at the ITDC establishment as guests of Ariana Afghan Airlines on April 12 and 13.

He also produced three Delhi-Kabul Ariana ticket jackets. Curiously, the one which was said to be Idema’s was minus the counterfoil—so the passenger’s name was missing, though the serial numbers tallied with the other two tickets issued to Bennett and Caraballo.

Idema’s arrival at Kabul Airport was nothing short of flamboyant. A video played in court showed the three Americans being warmly welcomed on the tarmac by senior Afghan officials, including Kabul’s chief of police.

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http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=55924