WASHINGTON - Authorities have captured a high-level al-Qaida figure who helped Osama bin Laden escape from Afghanistan in 2001, the Pentagon announced Friday. Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to say when or where Mohammad Rahim was captured—or by whom—announcing only that he was handed over by the CIA to the Pentagon earlier this week and is being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But in a memo obtained by The Associated Press, CIA Director Michael Hayden told agency employees that Rahim was detained in the summer of 2007. "Rahim is a tough, seasoned jihadist," Hayden said. "His combat experience, which dates back to the 1980s, includes plots against US and Afghan targets." Rahim is a close associate of bin Laden and has ties to al-Qaida organizations throughout the Middle East, Whitman said. He said Rahim helped prepare the al-Qaida hideout at Tora Bora—a mountain area full of warrens used by bin Laden during the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. He assisted al-Qaida's escape from the area during the U.S. operation to try to catch the al-Qaida leader, officials said. "Rahim's detention in the summer of 2007 was a blow to more than one terrorist network," Hayden said. "He gave aid to al-Qaida, the Taliban, and other anti-Coalition militants. source Hmm, I am a little confused. When I did some more research on this fellow, his Wiki pages says he was already in Gitmo. Hmm?
Ah, a good day for some (for me!), yet a disappointing day for some Poor terrorists are going down at all fronts!
W/E man. Does that really surprise you? We've caught Bin Laden's second in command like 5 times already. It'd be nice to catch Bin Laden for once.
No. Making him a martyr is a bad move. Besides, killing him would just keep us from getting some truth about 9/11 and the disposition, size and capability of Al Queda. No need to act so rashly if he is secure.
Of course, if we can capture him and obtain information I would do that before killing him. However, I would rather see him killed on the battlefield than after a trial of some kind. The second would make him into a martyr.
Well, you could make it look like he committed suicide in prison, and left a note renouncing his faith and all of the evil he brought into the world. At least, that is what Machiavelli would probably do, and besides Art of War, The Prince is the only other book on my nightstand.
I wouldn't buy it, and I can't suspect many others would either. Just for clarification, I did not mean some staged killing on the battlefield, I just meant actually in battle. I just wanted to clarify.
It's not for your benefit. No one cares if you buy it. The point is to confuse and dissuade anyone looking to use him as a martyr.