Wow, this story has just totally dropped off the radar.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Three Americans accused of torturing Afghans in a private jail were found guilty Wednesday in a Kabul court after a trial denounced by the defense as violating basic standards of fairness.

The three-judge panel sentenced accused ringleader Jonathan Idema, a former soldier with a past fraud conviction, and his right-hand man, Brent Bennett, to 10 years in jail. Edward Caraballo, who said he was filming a documentary on counterterrorism, received an eight-year term.

The interesting (and creepy) thing is that Idema has consistently claimed that his extracurricular activities were authorized at the highest levels of the U.S. government.

Idema claims to have had high-level Pentagon support in his group's efforts to hunt down terrorists, but the U.S. military says the men were freelancers operating outside the law and without its knowledge.

Idema is a former Green Beret.

With U.S. forces held to the standards of the Geneva Conventions, wouldn't it just make sense that a worried administration would want to funnel certain terrorist types--who might know critical information about Al Qaeda--through, shall we say, alternative channels? Some of "our guys" not subject to the Genevas who are, well, plausibly deniable? Especially in Afghanistan, with these Al Qaeda and Taliban types getting nabbed all the time there?

Later, the defendants and their lawyers appeared stunned by the verdict, which came even though the defense was given no chance to cross-examine witnesses.

We run Afghanistan. Isn't it interesting that these American citizens are being tried by an Afghani court? Little apparent help from the Americans on this one.

Earlier, Fogelnest argued that the Afghan legal system was so badly devastated by more than two decades of war that it wasn't fit to carry out the trial.

The entire proceeding "doesn't meet international standards and should be halted," he said. The judge cut him off, insisting he stick to the charges against his clients.

These guys were buried in Afghanistan. They were our boys, doing our work, and our government plausibly denied them into an Afghan prison. Connect the dots. It's all there.

The U.S. military in Afghanistan has admitted receiving a prisoner from Idema and holding him for about two months. NATO forces cooperated briefly with the three, sending explosives experts to assist in three arrest raids in the Afghan capital. They found traces of explosives and suspect electronic components in one raid.

But Idema has since been denounced by the alliance and the American military as an impostor, and disowned by Afghan leaders and the Pentagon. The U.S. military had no comment on the convictions.

This guy was a non-Geneva torturer, an agent of the U.S. government. One of many, probably. And I bet we'll hear more about others soon.