Developing: Major Al Qaeda Leader Captured By CIA

This is a developing story, but it is breaking that the CIA has captured a major al Qaeda leader. The information was released by the Pentagon.

UPDATE:
Via Breitbart:

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the captive is Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi. He was received by the Pentagon from the CIA, Whitman said, but the spokesman would not say where or when al-Iraqi was captured or by whom.

The Pentagon took custody of him at Guantanamo Bay this week, Whitman said.

Whitman said the terror suspect was believed responsible for plotting cross-border attacks from Pakistan on U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and that he led an effort to assassinate Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

"Abd al-Hadi (al-Iraqi) 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 met with al-Qaida members in Iran. He said he did not know what time period al-Iraqi was in Iran.

Who exactly is al-Iraqi? Regime of Terror has more.

Once again, the links between Iraq and al Qaeda's worldwide operations come to the forefront as this thug was not only a member of the Iraqi military, but was involved in al Qaeda operations in Afghanistan as well.

UPDATE:
Hot Air has more details.

UPDATE:
He was captured back in 2006 and the information related to his capture wasn't released until now. It would seem that someone has decided that national security trumps the purely partisan political advantages that releasing this information might have on their domestic agenda. As for the importance of al-Iraqi, Ace notes that the US considered him an extremely high value target. From Hot Air (link above):

Executive Order 13224, executed by Bush on September 23, 2001 to block assets held by certain groups and persons in connection with 9/11. Or click and scroll just a bit and you’ll find him named, again a few lines below Osama, in a UN document posted a month before 9/11 regarding terrorists operating in Afghanistan. Newsweek published a blockbuster article about him last April that claimed he was dispatched to Iraq, where he was born, along with Saif al-Adel by Osama himself to set up AQ’s organization there after the homegrown insurgency had already broken out.

In fact, al-Iraqi rates higher on the September 23, 2001 list than Zawahiri, who many consider to be running al Qaeda these days with Osama MIA. That gives you some context as to how important and high ranking this thug was.

Also, he was captured while trying to get back into Iraq. That means he was coming from somewhere else. Where could that have been, especially considering that intel believed he had met with Iranian agents.

But here is where things get real interesting. Just what exactly was the relationship al-Iraqi had with Saddam's government after he went and joined up with al Qaeda? Read that whole post as he runs through other questions that this terrorist can shed light upon.

Here's a few more:
1) What was your relationship with the Iranians and what assistance, if any, did the Iranians provide to your group.
2) To what extent is al Qaeda operating with, or providing assistance to, the following terrorist groups: Hamas, Hizbullah, Fatah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Abu Sayaaf, Muslim Brotherhood, and their subsidiary terrorist groups?
3) Where are the terrorists able to obtain the funds in order to continue their operations and who is providing the funding?
4) Who is providing the training and outfitting for al Qaeda in Iraq and Afghanistan? Who is providing al Qaeda with weapons and intel? How is such intel gathered and has al Qaeda penetrated the Afghan government? Do they have moles within the Iraqi government?

Those are just a few of the many questions that need to be asked and answered.

UPDATE:
Seems that the British government might want to talk things over with al-Iraqi, as they're noting that he appears to have been behind the 7/7 London Underground bombings.

Abd al-Hadi recognised the potential for turning young Muslim radicals from Britain who wanted to become mujahidin in Afghanistan or Iraq into terrorists who could carry out attacks in their home country. He realised that their knowledge of Britain, possession of British passports and natural command of English made them ideal recruits. After al-Qaeda restructured its operations in Pakistan’s tribal areas he sought out young Britons for instruction at training camps. In late 2004 Abd al-Hadi met Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, from Leeds, at a militant camp in Pakistan and, in the words of a senior investigator, “retasked them” to become suicide bombers.

They were sent back to Britain where they led the terrorist cell that carried out the 7/7 bombings, killing 52 Tube and bus passengers.

Pakistani intelligence sources said that Abd al-Hadi was also in contact with Rachid Rauf, a Birmingham man now in prison in Pakistan and alleged to be a key figure in last summer’s alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners in mid-flight.

Abd al-Hadi has also been linked to a number of other foiled al-Qaeda plots to carry out attacks in Britain. But the Security Service, which has previously sent officials to question detainees at Guantanamo Bay, may not have the opportunity to question him directly.

The Government’s recently adopted position in favour of closing Guantanamo Bay is likely to act as a bar on agents travelling there. British Intelligence would have to rely on relaying questions it would like asked by American interrogators.