This is very good news, indeed! Be thankful Obama and Holder didn't get him.
Mar 7, 2:17 PM (ET)
By ASHRAF KHAN
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) - The American-born spokesman for al-Qaida has been arrested by Pakistani intelligence officers in the southern city of Karachi, two officers and a government official said Sunday, the same day Adam Gadahn appeared in a video urging U.S. Muslims to attack their own country.
The arrest of Gadahn is a major victory in the U.S.-led battle against al-Qaida and will be taken as a sign that Pakistan is cooperating more fully with Washington. It follows the recent detentions of several Afghan Taliban commanders in Karachi.
Gadahn - who has often appeared in al-Qaida videos - was arrested in the sprawling southern metropolis in recent days, two officers who took part in the operation said. A senior government official also confirmed the arrest.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
Gadahn grew up on a goat farm in Riverside County, California, and converted to Islam at a mosque in nearby Orange County.
He moved to Pakistan in 1998, according to the FBI, and is said to have attended an al-Qaida training camp six years later, serving as a translator and consultant for the group. He has been wanted by the FBI since 2004, and there is a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.
The 31-year-old is known by various aliases including Yahya Majadin Adams and Azzam al-Amriki.
He has posted videos and messages calling for the destruction of the West and for strikes against targets in the United States. The most recent was posted Sunday, praising the U.S. Army major charged with killing 13 people in Fort Hood, Texas, as a role model for other Muslims.
A U.S. court charged Gadahn with treason in 2006, making him the first American to face such a charge in more than 50 years. He could face the death penalty if convicted. He was also charged with two counts of providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
Gadahn has appeared in more than half a dozen al-Qaida videos. The video released Sunday appeared to have been made after the end of the year, but it was unclear exactly when.
Dawud Walid, the executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Southfield, Mich., condemned Gadahn's call for violence, calling it a "desperate" attempt by Al-Qaida's spokesman to provoke bloodshed within the U.S.
Walid, a Navy veteran, said Muslims have honorably served in the American military will be unimpressed by al-Qaida's message aimed at their ranks.
"We thoroughly repudiate and condemn his statement and what we believe are his failed attempts to incite loyal American Muslims in the miltary," he said.
Imad Hamad, the senior national adviser for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, based in Dearbon, Mich., condemned al-Qaida's message and said it would have no impact on American Muslims.
"This a worthless rhetoric that is not going to have any effect on people's and minds and hearts," he said.
Al-Qaida has used Gadahn as its chief English-speaking spokesman, and he has called for the destruction of the West and for strikes against targets in the United States. In one video, he ceremoniously tore up his American passport. In another, he admitted his grandfather was Jewish, ridiculing him for his beliefs and calling for Palestinians to continue fighting Israel.
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Associated Press Writers Patrick Quinn and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo and Rick Callahan in Indianapolis contributed to this report.
CBS News - Did we say "Gadahn?" Sorry about that; it was Abu Yahya - yeah Yahya
ReplyDeleteThey're Arabs. Always ask to see the body.
Yeah, I guess it is to bad that Adam Gadahn is not in a US Federal prison, or at Gitmo, being held under the auspices of the US Constitution by the legally constituted authorities.
ReplyDeleteBetter that he is somewhere in Afpakistan.
It seems the internal partisan divide is a chasm.
Well, right now I imagine he's sipping a cocktail in his condo in Aslamabad.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the accompanying picture of the guy with the sack on his head I thought, "uh oh."
There's still some uncertainty about whether they caught Gadahn or the "important Taliban militant" from Pennsylvania.
ReplyDeleteThe New York Times, sourcing American and Pakistani officials, reports that the man arrested was Abu Yahya Mujahdeen Al-Adam, and describes him as an al Qaeda commander who was born in Pennsylvania.
ReplyDeleteYahya could have more value than the big mouth from California.
Only if the Pakis let US sit in on the questioning, unlike our experience with Dr Kahn and the Pakis, back in the Bush/Cheney days.
ReplyDeleteSo let US see if Team Obama and the democratic government in Pakistan can do better than Bush/Cheney and their tin-pot General/President by coup.
Hope to hell they do, do better.
Ace has a nice piece up on the Iraqi elections.
ReplyDeleteSo, let's do the recap.
ReplyDeleteIn the year since Obama took office, on the only Federal project of importance, 9-11-01 justice, let's report.
He took the Afpakistan campaign and elevated its' importance, lighting up the sky with six stars, as opposed to the two that illuminated the battlefield, under Bush/Cheney.
The Six Stars have acted aggressively, meeting light resistance to the NATO offensives initiated in the past four months.
The civilian government, n Pakistan, while portrayed as ineffective, seems to have delivered. Or at least the leaders of the ISI have been convinced that they can no longer cash our chits, while not providing the goods.
If Obama and his Army Generals can bring in some more heads, Doc Z's and Osama's, Health Care won't matter a twit.
I'd even vote for him.
He'd be a real winner, where as the boys I backed, fell out, early on in their "Long War".
Well, Rat, I'll put you down for another "Librarian" vote in 2012, then. Them Pakis ain't givin up ol' Usama, or Doc Z.
ReplyDeleteIf they do I'll vote for the Voodoo Doctor.
LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suicide car bomb attack on a police intelligence unit in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore killed at least 12 people and wounded about 65 during Monday's morning rush hour, officials said.
ReplyDeleteSeoul, South Korea (CNN) -- Police have arrested a South Korean couple whose toddler starved to death while they were raising a virtual child online, authorities said.
ReplyDeleteThis is The Most Important CO2 Chart You'll Ever See. Even the Warmists don't dispute it.
ReplyDeleteAnd, here's the kind of Science that makes the Warmists just want to cry. Trees, and plants, and growing things just loves them some CO2.
ReplyDelete