Al-Qaeda operative believed to be mastermind of 7/7, captured

The Pentagon has announced the capture of Adb al Hadi al Iraqi, considerd as a "top level member of A-Qaeda",who has been transferred to Guantanamo (Cuba).

The detained, says Berlusconi's Spanish leftist TV Telecinco, is "Iraqi, born in the north of Mosul and was commander of the armed army (¡!) of Saddam Hussein". Normally armies are armed.

More information after the news.

El Pentágono ha anunciado la captura de Abd al Hadi al Iraqi, al que considera un "miembro de alto nivel de Al Qaeda" quien ha sido trasladado a la base militar de Guantánamo (Cuba). Allí, Estados Unidos tiene confinados a centenares de prisioneros.

El detenido es de nacionalidad iraquí, nacido en el norte de Mosul y fue comandante del ejército armado (hay ejércitos no armados???) de Saddam Hussein.

La información del departamento de Defensa de Estados Unidos acusa al detenido (también conocido como Nashwan Abdulrazaq Abdulbaqi o Abu Abdallah) de estar posiblemente involucrado en un intento de asesinato del presidente de Pakistán, Pervez Musharraf.

El comunicado del Pentágono agrega que antes del traslado a Guantánamo Al Hadi "estuvo bajo custodia de la Agencia Central de Inteligencia (CIA)", aunque no cita ni dónde ni cuando fue capturado.

Agrega que Al Hadi "era uno de los miembros de más alto nivel y con más experiencia de Al Qaeda en el momento de su detención" y que estuvo asociado con dirigentes de grupos extremistas aliados de esa organización terrorista en Afganistán y Pakistán, incluido los talibanes.

Según Bryan Whitman, portavoz del Pentágono, se cree que Al Hadi es responsable de la planificación de ataques contra las fuerzas de Estados Unidos en Afganistán desde Pakistán.

Source: Informativos Telecinco.com - Internacional - El Pentágono anuncia la captura de un destacado miembro de Al Qaeda.

Comments:

Note the location from WHICH this animal was entering Iraq - Iran. Anyone doubt Iran doesn't know when a notorious al Qaeda leader like this is in their country? OK, anyone who is not suffering from terminal BDS? Democrats are such fools. Every success from here on will be viewed as in the context of their full retreat plans. They better save face and move the war funding fast, before they are the political walking dead. I am sure the Europeans are grateful we found this guy!

Source: The Strata-Sphere » Blog Archive » 7/7 Mastermind Caught In Iraq.

Pardon my speculation, but as soon as I learned that the Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi was the 7/7 London bombing mastermind, I couldn't help but think that it was a bit singular that six former al Mujahiroun goons, including Abu Izzadeen who publicly supported the 7/7 terrorists, were arrested just days before the announcement that Abd al-Hadi was in U.S. custody.

Glen Jenvey has been insisting to me for some time that ever since the arrest of Abu Hamza (which he had a hand in) that Omar Bakri Mohammed, and his two right-hand men Abu Izzadeen and Anjem Choudary, were the face of al Qaeda in Britain. A charge that is backed up by hours of video and audio of the group supporting jihadists, including al Qaeda, and Omar Bakri Mohammed's pre-9/11 boasting that he was the spokesperson for al Qaeda in the U.K., an affiliation he later denied.

But another fact suddenly comes to mind, something that didn't really click until just now. The forum on which Izzadeen and other Bakri followers now congregate is called "Islam Base". Al Qaeda literally means, "the Base". *Rusty slaps forehead for overlooking the obvious*

And while the public Islam Base website has taken down literature written by Osama bin Laden, after we exposed them, in private forum members continue to exchange al Qaeda literature.

Source: The Jawa Report: Thinking Out Loud: Abd al-Hadi -- al Muhajiroun Connection?

More about this man:

What is also noteworthy is al-Iraqi's background in Saddam Hussein's Army (pointed out to this site by Laurie Mylroie). During his military service over a decade ago, al-Iraqi worked his way up to the rank of Major before moving to Afghanistan to fight "jihad" against the occupying Soviet Union. This is not to assert that al-Iraqi maintained contact with Iraqi officials over the past decade (though many other Intelligence and Military officers from Saddam Hussein's regime, who were later found to be assisting al Qaeda, reportedly did) but his knowledge of the country and contacts within Iraq certainly played a role in al-Iraqi being Osama bin Laden's personal choice to monitor al Qaeda's operations in Iraq. al-Iraqi's military background likely was of great use in the terrorist training camp(s) he commanded in Afghanistan. Those camps were destroyed by U.S. forces in late 2001 around the same time that al-Iraqi's funds were being frozen by the United Nations.

Source: Who is Abdul Hadi al-Iraqi? (Regime of Terror) h/t Gateway Pundit.

Don Surber points out that most of the best newspapers in the world -even British ones- have not even mentioned his connection with 7/7 bombings. Also in Wetworx and Captain's Quarters Blog. More in Wake Up America, Instapundit ["Hey, wait -- an "al-Qaeda leader" who's also a "former major in Saddam Hussein's army"? But I thought there was no connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda. Or between Al Qaeda and Iran"], Dinah Lord.

In Spain, I have found this news also in El Mundo and 20Minutes. They write about Guantánamo and CIA but nothing about the 7/7.

I have found it also in Le Monde, but it insists on Guantánamo -about whom there is a huge report at the right side of the page-, CIA and that this man was accused of trying to kill Pakistani President Musharraf.

Last but not least, he was planning more attacks against UK:

A recently leaked British intelligence report indicated Al-Hadi was planning a major attack against Britain prior to Prime minister Tony Blair steps down from office this spring. A letter captured by British intelligence from Al-Hadi stresed the need to take care to ensure that the attack was successful and on a large scale... The plan was to be relayed to an Iran-based Al-Qaeda facilitator.

Source: Senior Al Qaeda operative Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi captured (The Fourth Rail) h/t PJM.

Related news:

Last week:

A Taliban commander was among 16 people killed in Afghanistan, while Afghan and NATO forces surrounded around 200 Taliban fighters in southern Uruzgan province, officials said Tuesday. Eleven Taliban were killed when Afghan and NATO forces attacked their hideout in the Seuri district of southern Zabul province on Monday night, General Rahmatullah Raoufi, army commander for regional south, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Source: The Strata-Sphere » Blog Archive » Top Taliban Commanders Killed, Arrested.

24 Talibans are killed in a joint attack by OTAN and Afghan forces. (link in Spanish). The link is "asesinato/talibanes/afganos", that is, "murder of Afghan Talibans". Ejem...

Also another Al-Qaeda terrorist has been detained in Iraq. The US accuses him of working for Iran. Abu Mustafa Al-Shebaini is another "peaceful insurgent":

Over the past eight months, his group has introduced a new breed of roadside bomb more lethal than any seen before; based on a design from the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hizballah, the weapon employs “shaped” explosive charges that can punch through a battle tank’s armor like a fist through the wall.

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Resumen: el terrorista detenido en Iraq, proveniente de Irán, además de ser un superviviente del extinto ejército de Saddam -experiencia que empleó en la dirección de los campos de entrenamiento en Afganistán, al servicio de Al-Qaeda- es el cerebro del atentado de Londres del 7-J, pequeño detalle de su biografía que no ha sido mencionado por los grandes periódicos en lengua inglesa.

Por supuesto, lo que ninguno de ellos ha olvidado es que después de ser detenido ha sido mantenido en dependencias de la CIA.

Al parecer, según la inteligencia inglesa, estaba preparando ya otro atentado contra Inglaterra, para antes de que dejase el Gobierno Tony Blair.

Aparte, ha habido más detenciones, entre otras las del terrorista Abu Mustafa Al-Sebaini, quien ha sido el artífice de unos nuevos proyectiles basados en otros de la milicia Hizbulá -a su vez de fabricación iraní-, que se están empleando en Irak en estos momentos. Su particularidad es que pueden penetrar el blindaje de los tanques. Otro pacífico insurgente.

Pero sin duda el link peor es el de 20 Minutos. El periódico gratuito, para dar la noticia de que las fuerzas de la ONU conjuntamente con los afganos, han matado a 24 talibanes, utiliza el link "asesinato/talibanes/afganos". Ejem... Otra perversión del lenguaje: si están en guerra, no puede ser asesinato. Y en caso de que no fuera una guerra, tampoco: porque no ha existido una infracción legal al haberse producido en un enfrentamiento entre Talibanes -terroristas- y fuerzas regulares, que además cuentan con el mandato de la ONU.

UPDATE: More on Fausta's blog.