Rumsfeld made me do it

Remember the trio running a private jail in Afghanistan? Apparently one of them is claiming that he had orders from the US government, and from a very special office:

Speaking before the start of his trial, Jonathan K Idema said he had been abandoned by the US government.

(snip)

Mr Idema claims to have helped prevent several attempted terrorist attacks and said he had regular e-mail, phone and fax contact with Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's office and other senior Pentagon officials.

I'm not sure I can believe this right away. If I did work for the government of this nature, I would certainly keep a few of those faxes or e-mails for posterity and record, or in case I got stuck in a situation like this one. The article makes no claims that anything like this exists, so it is pure hearsay at this point.

Surely there would be phone records or something. I guess we will have to wait and see what turns up.
*UPDATE* From the AP write up this morning:

Idema named a Pentagon official who he said "applauded our efforts" and wanted to place the group under contract - a proposal they refused for fear it would limit their freedom to operate.

"The American authorities absolutely condoned what we did, they absolutely supported what we did," he told reporters crowding around the dock. "We have extensive evidence of that."

So there's the claim of evidence I was waiting for. More to come.