A suspected al Qaeda leader, accused of being involved in September 11 and planning the 2004 Madrid train bombings, has been imprisoned in a secret U.S. jail for the past year, Spain's El Pais newspaper reported on Sunday.
Mustafa Setmarian, 48, a Syrian with Spanish citizenship, was captured in Pakistan in October 2005 and is held in a prison operated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Pakistani and European security service officials told El Pais.
Setmarian's 2005 capture was reported in May of this year after the United States put a $5 million bounty on the head of the alleged founder of al Qaeda's Spanish network.
A photograph of the red-haired Setmarian has been removed from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Intelligence's most-wanted Web page.
Pakistan has not answered requests from Madrid about the whereabouts of Setmarian, wanted in Spain for allegedly training September 11 hijackers in Afghanistan and ordering Madrid commuter train attacks that killed 191 people, according to El Pais.Spain's high court is unable to request his extradition as he has not been officially imprisoned, the newspaper reported. Read on...
So they have an Al Qaeda leader in custody for the last year and haven't trotted him out as proof that they are winning the "War on Terror" or prosecuted him for crimes in which he's allegedly been involved during this oh-so-important election season? Hmmmm.....It seems to me that would be a pretty big deal to help the Republicans look tough on national security. Can you guess why they haven't?
(h/t E)
