Al Qaeda leader captured trying to return to Iraq
Because, you know, we are "distracted" and all that.
WASHINGTON AP) - The Pentagon announced Friday the capture of one of al-Qaida's most senior and most experienced operatives, an Iraqi who was trying to return to his native country when he was captured.
Some background information that some may find interesting.
The Pentagon described al-Iraqi as an associate of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and as someone who may have been targeting Westerners outside of Iraq. At one time he served in the Iraqi military, the Pentagon said.
...
A senior Pakistani intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that al-Iraqi had operated from Pakistan's tribal regions but disappeared some time during mid-2005. The official said al-Iraqi had commanded al-Qaida forces when they fought U.S. forces in Afghanistan's Shah-e-Kot valley in March 2002.
...
The Pentagon said al-Iraqi was born in Mosul, in northern Iraq, in 1961. Whitman said he was a key al-Qaida paramilitary leader in Afghanistan in the late 1990s, and during 2002-04 led efforts to attack U.S. forces in Afghanistan with terrorist forces based in Pakistan.
...
The Pentagon said al-Iraqi spent more than 15 years in Afghanistan and at one point was an instructor in an al-Qaida training camp there. Before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he was a member of al-Qaida's ruling Shura Council, a now-defunct 10-person advisory body to bin Laden, the Pentagon said.
One wonders what his role in the Iraqi military was and what kind of communication he had with Saddam Hussein's military over the years.
One thing is clear, though. Al Qaeda's leadership in Iraq is still in disarray. It would be most unfortunate if a policy change transformed the country into an area where al Qaeda could flourish.
WASHINGTON AP) - The Pentagon announced Friday the capture of one of al-Qaida's most senior and most experienced operatives, an Iraqi who was trying to return to his native country when he was captured.
Some background information that some may find interesting.
The Pentagon described al-Iraqi as an associate of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and as someone who may have been targeting Westerners outside of Iraq. At one time he served in the Iraqi military, the Pentagon said.
...
A senior Pakistani intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that al-Iraqi had operated from Pakistan's tribal regions but disappeared some time during mid-2005. The official said al-Iraqi had commanded al-Qaida forces when they fought U.S. forces in Afghanistan's Shah-e-Kot valley in March 2002.
...
The Pentagon said al-Iraqi was born in Mosul, in northern Iraq, in 1961. Whitman said he was a key al-Qaida paramilitary leader in Afghanistan in the late 1990s, and during 2002-04 led efforts to attack U.S. forces in Afghanistan with terrorist forces based in Pakistan.
...
The Pentagon said al-Iraqi spent more than 15 years in Afghanistan and at one point was an instructor in an al-Qaida training camp there. Before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he was a member of al-Qaida's ruling Shura Council, a now-defunct 10-person advisory body to bin Laden, the Pentagon said.
One wonders what his role in the Iraqi military was and what kind of communication he had with Saddam Hussein's military over the years.
One thing is clear, though. Al Qaeda's leadership in Iraq is still in disarray. It would be most unfortunate if a policy change transformed the country into an area where al Qaeda could flourish.