An interesting Al Qaida commander named Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, is being shipped to Guantanamo Bay Detention Center following his capture in late 2006 on his way back to his home nation of Iraq.  Al-Hadi is “one of al-Qaeda’s highest-ranking and senior operatives at the time of his detention,” according to Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

Al-Hadi is accused of planning operations within Afghanistan from the comforts of Pakistan, but he is also believed to be personally tasked with overseeing Al Qaida in Iraq from Osama bin Laden.  A former officer in the Iraq military, he has ties to the Taliban that date back to the 1990s and acted as a liason between Al Qaida and the Taliban.  Nothing to see there.

U.S. intelligence sources told NBC News that al-Hadi was taken into custody in late 2006 and has provided the CIA with hundreds of leads into al-Qaida operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Whitman said that “Abd al-Hadi 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.” He added that the terror suspect also met with al-Qaida members in Iran. He said he did not know what time period al-Hadi was in Iran. (source)

A good catch on quite an interesting character.  It seems odd that the current leader of Al Qaida in Iraq was supposedly chosen by the Al Qaida leadership when Al-Hadi was around.  Here was a former military commander for the Iraqi military who was experienced in planning, he has the contacts within Iraq and certainly with Baathists since the only way to advance through the Iraqi military during the reign of Saddam Hussein was to schmooze, and he’s passed up.