Questions For Another Baathist Turned Al Qaeda Bigwig
NBC News is reporting that an important al Qaeda terrorist, known by his nom de guerre Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi (his real name is Nashwan Abdulrazaq Abdulbaqi), has been captured and transferred to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi's known biography, and other reported details of his life as a terrorist, raise a number of interesting questions. Here are just some of the questions his interrogators should be focusing on:
(1) What ties, if any, did you have to Saddam's regime after leaving the Iraqi army?
As both the NBC News account and his Rewards for Justice page confirm, Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi was once a major in Saddam's army "before moving to Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet Union. " NBC News explains, "The Pentagon said al-Hadi was born in Mosul in 1961 and was once a major in Saddam Hussein's military before moving to Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet Union." After joining al Qaeda in the late 1990's, he composed an extensive dossier as a top terrorist for bin Laden. It is worth reproducing the Rewards for Justice description of his life as a terrorist here:
Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi is one of Usama bin Laden’s top global deputies, personally chosen by bin Laden to monitor al Qaeda operations in Iraq. Al-Hadi was the former Internal Operations Chief for al Qaeda. He has been associated with numerous attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan and has been known to facilitate communication between al Qaeda in Iraq and al Qaeda. Al-Hadi rose to the rank of Major in Saddam Hussein’s army before moving to Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet Union. He has a reputation for being a skilled, intelligent, and experienced commander and is an extremely well-respected al Qaeda leader. He has commanded numerous terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. Al-Hadi is reportedly still in contact with Usama bin Laden.
Several corollary questions include:
(a) Did you maintain ties with any personnel in Saddam's army after leaving for Afghanistan? If so, who? And why?
(b) Did you maintain any ties to members of Saddam's government or intelligence service after leaving for Afghanistan? Again, if so, who? And why? Do you know of other former members of Saddam's regime who joined al Qaeda and maintained ties to Saddam's Iraq afterwards?
(c) The NBC News report and other information indicates that Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi was responsible for maintaining ties between al Qaeda in Iraq and al Qaeda's leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Where were al Qaeda's leaders stationed in Pakistan and Afghanistan? What measures do they take to hide their location? Who in Iraq did you maintain contact with? What types of messages were you responsible for carrying back and forth? Were any of the al Qaeda members in Iraq you maintained contact with also one-time members of Saddam's military, government and/or intelligence service? If so, who? What are their backgrounds?
(d) Abu Zubaydah told his CIA interrogators that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had good relations with Iraqi intelligence. Can you corroborate Zubaydah's testimony? What do you know about Zarqawi's terrorist career and ties to Saddam's regime prior to the war?
(2) Who in Iran did you meet with? And where in Iran? What is the nature of the relationship between the Iranian regime, including its terrorist appendages (IRGC and Hezbollah), and al Qaeda?
NBC News reports:
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the captive is Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, adding that he was caught as he tried to return to Iraq. “Abd al-Hadi was trying to return to his native country, Iraq, to manage al-Qaida’s affairs and possibly focus on operations outside Iraq against Western targets,” Whitman said, adding that the terror suspect also met with al-Qaida members in Iran. He said he did not know what time period al-Hadi was in Iran.
It is widely believed, incorrectly, that the al Qaeda leadership in Iran is under some form of meaningful house arrest. In reality, al Qaeda's leadership has continued to openly operate out of Iran over the last several years, and this latest account from NBC News buttresses the point. This should not be surprising since al Qaeda has a long history of cooperating with the Iranians. (See here and here, for example, and I'll have more to come in the weeks that follow.)
Several corollary questions include:
(a) How frequently did you meet with al Qaeda's leaders in Iran?
(b) Were any members of the IRGC, Hezbollah, or any other Iranian proxy/party involved in these meetings?
(c) Were attacks against the West, outside of Iraq, discussed (in addition to the attacks inside Iraq)?
(d) What role does Iran play in aiding al Qaeda's terror inside Iraq, if any?
If warranted, I'll post more on this later. These are just a few of the types of questions American interrogators should be asking.
(1) What ties, if any, did you have to Saddam's regime after leaving the Iraqi army?
As both the NBC News account and his Rewards for Justice page confirm, Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi was once a major in Saddam's army "before moving to Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet Union. " NBC News explains, "The Pentagon said al-Hadi was born in Mosul in 1961 and was once a major in Saddam Hussein's military before moving to Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet Union." After joining al Qaeda in the late 1990's, he composed an extensive dossier as a top terrorist for bin Laden. It is worth reproducing the Rewards for Justice description of his life as a terrorist here:
Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi is one of Usama bin Laden’s top global deputies, personally chosen by bin Laden to monitor al Qaeda operations in Iraq. Al-Hadi was the former Internal Operations Chief for al Qaeda. He has been associated with numerous attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan and has been known to facilitate communication between al Qaeda in Iraq and al Qaeda. Al-Hadi rose to the rank of Major in Saddam Hussein’s army before moving to Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet Union. He has a reputation for being a skilled, intelligent, and experienced commander and is an extremely well-respected al Qaeda leader. He has commanded numerous terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. Al-Hadi is reportedly still in contact with Usama bin Laden.
Several corollary questions include:
(a) Did you maintain ties with any personnel in Saddam's army after leaving for Afghanistan? If so, who? And why?
(b) Did you maintain any ties to members of Saddam's government or intelligence service after leaving for Afghanistan? Again, if so, who? And why? Do you know of other former members of Saddam's regime who joined al Qaeda and maintained ties to Saddam's Iraq afterwards?
(c) The NBC News report and other information indicates that Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi was responsible for maintaining ties between al Qaeda in Iraq and al Qaeda's leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Where were al Qaeda's leaders stationed in Pakistan and Afghanistan? What measures do they take to hide their location? Who in Iraq did you maintain contact with? What types of messages were you responsible for carrying back and forth? Were any of the al Qaeda members in Iraq you maintained contact with also one-time members of Saddam's military, government and/or intelligence service? If so, who? What are their backgrounds?
(d) Abu Zubaydah told his CIA interrogators that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had good relations with Iraqi intelligence. Can you corroborate Zubaydah's testimony? What do you know about Zarqawi's terrorist career and ties to Saddam's regime prior to the war?
(2) Who in Iran did you meet with? And where in Iran? What is the nature of the relationship between the Iranian regime, including its terrorist appendages (IRGC and Hezbollah), and al Qaeda?
NBC News reports:
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the captive is Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, adding that he was caught as he tried to return to Iraq. “Abd al-Hadi was trying to return to his native country, Iraq, to manage al-Qaida’s affairs and possibly focus on operations outside Iraq against Western targets,” Whitman said, adding that the terror suspect also met with al-Qaida members in Iran. He said he did not know what time period al-Hadi was in Iran.
It is widely believed, incorrectly, that the al Qaeda leadership in Iran is under some form of meaningful house arrest. In reality, al Qaeda's leadership has continued to openly operate out of Iran over the last several years, and this latest account from NBC News buttresses the point. This should not be surprising since al Qaeda has a long history of cooperating with the Iranians. (See here and here, for example, and I'll have more to come in the weeks that follow.)
Several corollary questions include:
(a) How frequently did you meet with al Qaeda's leaders in Iran?
(b) Were any members of the IRGC, Hezbollah, or any other Iranian proxy/party involved in these meetings?
(c) Were attacks against the West, outside of Iraq, discussed (in addition to the attacks inside Iraq)?
(d) What role does Iran play in aiding al Qaeda's terror inside Iraq, if any?
If warranted, I'll post more on this later. These are just a few of the types of questions American interrogators should be asking.
posted by Thomas Joscelyn at 10:33 AM
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