New Taliban Leader Had Been in Afghan Custody; Released in Hostage Deal

[Hissyspit]

Source: ABC News

New Taliban Leader Had Been in Afghan Custody; Released in Hostage Deal
June 20, 2007 12:01 PM

Maddy Sauer Reports:

The Taliban military commander who led the "graduation ceremony" for 300 suicide bombers was one of five men released from an Afghanistan prison earlier this year in exchange for a kidnapped Italian journalist.

On the tape, Dadullah, whose notoriously brutal brother was killed by the U.S. last month, introduces and congratulates new teams of suicide bombers as he sends them off to conduct suicide missions in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Germany.

- snip -

Dadullah also received a condolence letter from Osama bin Laden following the death of his brother.

Journalist Daniel Mastrogiacomo was kidnapped along with his interpreter and driver by Taliban fighters in early March. A hostage trade was negotiated, in part by an Italian-run hospital organization, for his release in exchange for the release of five senior Taliban commanders that were in the custody of the Afghan federal government. The deal was harshly criticized at the time, and protests took place in front of the Italian-run hospital.


Read more: http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/06/new_taliban_lea.html

[babylonsister]

1. There's a bunch of rocket scientists running this show, isn't there.

No offense to rocket scientists. Is there some kind of INcompetency test required first?

[Ian David]

2. I hear they gave Oliver North an honorary degree at the graduation ceremony. n/t

[Ian David]

3. Also at large: Masterminds of USS Cole and Limburg bombings escape from Yemeni prison

Masterminds of USS Cole and Limburg bombings escape from Yemeni prison

Among 23 militants that broke out of a jail in Sanaá, the capital of Yemen, were 13 Al-Qaeda members, two of which were convicted for the bombings of the USS Cole and the French supertanker Limburg, said Interpol.

Interpol released a "urgent global security alert" after the men escaped. The alert calls the escapees "dangerous individuals."

Interpol's Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said in the alert that at least 13 of the 23 men were, "convicted al Qaeda terrorists, some of whom were involved in attacks on U.S. and French ships in 2000 and 2002. Their escape cannot be considered an internal problem for Yemen alone. Unless Interpol Red Notices are issued urgently for these fugitives and unless the world community commits itself to tracking them down, they will be able to travel internationally, to elude detection and to engage in future terrorist activity."

Noble also added that "Al Qaeda terrorists have been deemed a serious threat to the entire world community by the U.N. Security Council, by Interpol and by a wide range of countries."
FBI photo of Fawaz Yahya Al-Rabeei, leader of the group responsible for the Limburg explosion.
FBI photo of Fawaz Yahya Al-Rabeei, leader of the group responsible for the Limburg explosion.

Noble said that he issued the alert himself because, "the escape and unknown whereabouts of Al-Qaeda terrorists constituted a clear and present danger to all countries."

More:
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Masterminds_of_USS_Cole_and_Limburg_bombings_escape_from_Yemeni_prison