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Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images file
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, left, is seen with Osama bin Laden in a video image released by Al Jazeera in 2001.
U.S. officials say Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, captured last month in Turkey and now in New York, has spent most of the last decade in Iran, in some sort of confinement.
Back in late 2001, as U.S. troops and Afghan tribal forces were dismantling the Taliban control of Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden made a decision.
He sent his operators, people like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Abu Zubaydah to the cities of Pakistan where they were to hide out and plan further attacks against the US. All of the key players were captured or killed, with the exception of Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida's No. 2 who remains at large, having survived at least three Predator attacks.
At the same time, bin Laden sent his top managers, al-Qaida's Management Council, to Iran, arming them with money to bribe their way across the border, according to multiple US and Iranian officials. Bin Laden apparently hoped that the Iranians would see the group not as Sunni terrorists but as "an enemy of my enemy," as one senior U.S. official put it.
Among those who made their way into Iran were Saif al-Adel, al-Qaida’s military director; bin Laden's son Saad; and Abu Ghaith, the group's communications director ... and also bin Laden's son-in-law.
At one point not long after its arrival, this group, numbering in the hundreds with family members and bodyguards, was captured by Iranian authorities. Although senior U.S. officials have told NBC News they did not know the conditions of their confinement — "it was the blackest of black boxes," one former senior U.S. official told NBC News — Iranian officials said the group was "in jail."
One Iranian official, former U.N. ambassador Javad Zarif, told NBC News in the mid-2000s that "no nation has captured as many al-Qaida members as Iran." US officials admit that other than some mundane communications, they were unaware of any significant roles played by the group while in captivity.
Officials tell NBC News he had been a prisoner in Iran for most of the past decade and is scheduled to appear in federal court Friday. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
"Every once in a while, we would intercept non-operational communications from them to relatives back home. That was it," said a former high-ranking U.S. official.
The U.S. didn't know where the group was held nor all of the members’ identities. On occasion, there would be reports that all or some had been released, but there was little confirmation. Many in U.S. intelligence believed Iran held onto them for use as bargaining chips and not just with the U.S. They were in effect hostages. If al-Qaida carried out attacks in Iran, as it had in the 1990s, the group could face harm.
On occasion, flurries of intelligence would lead to further investigation, but again without any resolution.
In 2009, Saad bin Laden was killed in a Predator attack in Pakistan, leading to speculation that others had been released. But again, U.S. officials could not determine how many, if any, had been let go. Moreover, it was not a high priority for the U.S. because the individuals were no longer considered much of a threat since they had been out of action for so long.
Last month, Abu Ghaith was detained in Turkey then was being sent to Kuwait via Jordan. But he was intercepted in Jordan and brought to the U.S., according to U.S. officials.
According to court documents, he has been charged with conspiracy to kill Americans, including actions related to the 9/11 attacks.
Officials say that Abu Ghaith is unlikely to have any operational information because he has been in Iran for so long. Now, they admit his intelligence value may be more about his captivity in Iran and whether he was released or escaped.
NBC News Justice Correspondent Pete Williams contributed to this report.
Related:
Bin Laden son-in-law captured, whisked to NY on terror charges
GOP protests bringing bin Laden son-in-law to NY
Read the federal indictment of Abu Ghaith in PDF
Leave a Comment:
was Iran holding or harboring ?
and WTF is he doing be held in new york and not at Gitmo ?
This is a mistake his NOW allowed public trial will be a propaganda for all the jihad's..
You are correct. He should be in Gitmo getting the waterboard treatment but our weak president won't allow that.
Being held in NY seems to indicate that he knows something that we want to know. NY is a far step up from GITMO. If he gives us something of value, fair trade. Spending time in GITMO as a punitive action is not worth loosing key intel.
We are either a country of laws and fair trials, or we are everything Al Quaida accuses us of.
How is a fair trial and lawful imprisonment/exoneration propoganda for Jihad but not indefinite detention and violations of human rights?
"Just look at these Americans, abiding by the rule of law! HEATHENS! Join us now and kill them all for Allah!"
Davefromdanapointca, no wonder you are so ignorant and hateful, you live in the heart of Repugnincan/TeaBaggers country, where anything left of Hitler is a sin.
Keep watching Fox and listening to scumbags Hannity and Limbaugh, you deserve each other.
sf accountant: your name says it all, since you live in a sanctuary city !
how is a public trial a problem ? HE will be on TV everyday, making him a reality tv celebrity for the jihad's and when trials over a martyr..
same reason Obama dumped bin laden in the ocean, NOT TO MAKE A MARTYR OUT OF HIM !
dont you ever see trials on TV and what happens to these sick serial killers THEY GET GROUPIES that think they are fascinating and what do you think happens over in middle east seeing bin laden's son in law on CNN, MSNBC, and yes even FOX NEWS and AL GORES new TV channel AL JAZZERA (current tv) channel.
@!$%# man even twitter and facebook caused the arab spring in Eqypt and Syria and Lybia, what do you think will happen on NATIONAL WORLD TV !
He should be held in Gitmo as an unlawful combatant. As such he is not entitled to the protections of the Geneva Convention and is not entitled to the protections of the civilian justice system either. The only appropriate place to try him would be at a military tribunal. It is obvious that the US gov't is hoping to get some intelligence on Iran from him and that is why they are treating him decently. Should he refuse to cooperate or outlive his usefulness he will be sent to Gitmo in very short order. It sounds like bin Laden miscalculated. He thought that the Iranians would welcome the al-Qaeda members because of their shared enemy - the US. As it turns out it seems that the Iranians hate al-Qaeda and other Sunni extremists as much or more than they hate the US. I have to wonder a little about why he was released now. Did the Iranians decide he was no longer of any relevance to al-Qaeda and let him go or did he somehow manage to escape. Finding out might give the US some intelligence on how the Iranians currently view al-Qaeda and give some indication of how many al-Qaeda personnel may still be held in Iran or have been released and may now start popping up elsewhere causing trouble.
So, your idea is that if he has any media coverage, he'll attract sympathizers? And you think there aren't sympathizers for the Gitmo prisoners? Or Bin Laden, for that matter? Not that the comparison is really valid; nothing I see in the article indicates this chump is a particularly important terrorist.
There might be a question of whether there might be MORE sympathy for someone lawfully convicted under media scrutiny rather than shut away in a dark hole, just because the dark hole is out of the public view, but that sounds like an awfully piss poor reason to me to violate our laws and committment to human rights.
In jail, dumbass. Iran doesn't like terrorists any more than other developed countries.
Yeah.....we certainly wouldn't want the rest of the world to know that the US believes in the rule of law and can hold a fair trial. That would totally besmirch the good reputation the Bush administration tried so hard to build.
Let's pull Dick Cheney out of retirement as a "Welcome Party".
Bad Bob:
You live in a world of pink Unicorns, rainbows and Teddy Bears.
You either allow your enemies to piss on your leg with impunity, or you cut their balls off.
On the one hand, if they return to their leaders singing soprano, it sends a specific message. On the other hand, allowing your enemy to piss on your leg, without fear of reprisal, tells him and his allies that you are a willing urinal.
What Al Quaeda thinks of the United State is not going to change if we treat them fairly. They will laugh at us, and continue to murder Americans around the world. Destroy them, and they can kill no one.
Heck guys; give it six months to a year from now and this guy will probably be our candidate for president of Syria. Iran was probably doing us all a favor because this guy sounds like DC's kind of "freedom fighter" these days.
A missed "opportunity" to have shot drone missiles into an Iranian fortress (Sulaiman Abu Ghaith's hideout).
Wonder how Iran would have responded to that.
Blutowski....
Better to be right 30% of the time, than wrong 90%. Either way, critical thinking skills are more familiar to Obama than Bush. Obama plays the long game, you guys play on the short bus.
Akrius....
Really? Those are the only 2 options you could come up with? How many times has someone pissed on your leg anyways? It seems like torture wouldn't help reinforce the stereotype of America to the people that Al Qaida likes to recruit now would it? You get the whole point of what we've been working towards right? Less terrorists not more in the world. It was geniuses like you in the last adminstration that made the problem worse not better. With that said, Mike apparently can't read, as the article mentioned nothing about a public trial, it only mentioned court documents, which would be necessary to extradite someone into US custody.
Ido....
I'm sure you sincerely do "wonder" what would have happened. My guess is, from your posts, that you spend most of your life "wondering" about things. Now go get a job and start paying your mom rent for that basement of hers that you occupy.
Sounds like you live in a rather naive and simplistic world of black and white.
Sleuth:
Apparently, two options are enough to muddle your intellectual mechanism.
To begin with, no one pisses on my leg, Nancy; not even a sugarplum fairy like you.
Next, you're confusing Sadists with Jihadists. Torture is not the cause célèbre, which attracts recruits to Al Qaida's ranks; you must be drawing on your own personal experience. Sorry, but Al Qaida fighters aren't into tight leather pants and stiletto heels.
Al Qaida is well stocked with people who already hate America. I think they have an abundance of volunteers, who are ready to become martyrs for Allah. In case you were having your nails done at the time, and you missed the news flash on NBC, that is the dominant idea driving all OF Al Qaida's operatives.
BTW: Who is this "we" that you're referring to, honey? Do you have a mouse in your pocket? I'm absolutely positive that you have no input, what-so-ever in policy making decisions for the security of this country. They don't allow sanctimonious twits anywhere near the Pentagon.
slueth : WHY did they bring him to new york ? once they reach U.S. soil then he has all the rights afforded him. which is BS !
Thats why gitmo was in place, to process and decide if other countries will take them back for a little one on one with electrodes attached to his balls !
the less they write about them the less the islamist can use any and all coverage as propaganda !
We have to abide by a humane set of rules , while they will strap on bombs and kill innocent public for no reason, except a warp belief of martyrdom...
Skrekk:
The world is a very complicated place; I'm simplifying for your benefit. You can thank me later.
Sleuth:
You wrote: "Critical thinking skills are more familiar to Obama than Bush." Please, you don't really believe that do you? Come on Nancy, now you're talking like a pawn, and I had such high hopes for you. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Obama is a pig; he doesn't have any critical thinking skills; all he does is campaign, he doesn't lead. George Bush lead. Obama is a pig. He's your pig. Embrace your pig, Nancy.
The indictment shows that he's being charged with several federal counts of terrorism under 18.USC.2332(b) and 18.USC.3238, so it'll be a public trial.
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/NEWS/A_U.S.%20news/US-news-PDFs/Ghaith-Indictment.pdf
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith will be found innocent. He will soon be eligible for the Dream Act and attend school for free. His wife will give birth to a baby in the U.S., thereby ensuring them free food stamps, health care, rent assistance, etc. Once Abu Ghaith graduates from our schools, he will be given citizenship and a job translating for the State Dept.
Welcome to America!
It is better to try him in NY, where thousands were killed in 9/11.
"He sent his operators, people like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Abu Zubaydah to the cities of Pakistan where they were to hide out and plan further attacks against the US."
Instead, when the NATO forces were entering Kandahar in 2001, Pakis airlifted key al-Qaida, Taliban, ISI and others militants by back door from Kandahar.
This includes Mullah Omar, Osama and many including Paki Haqqani militant network leaders.
Hope people remember about Pakis sheltering Osama.
In Afghanistan, Pakis have backstabbed the US and NATO forces big time. Half of NATO forces deaths are due to ungrateful and backstabbing Pakis.
JW:
You have a future in stand up.
Well done.
The regular people of Iran, the ones I've met, are pretty ordinary, peace loving yokels. I guess they are soon to be destroyed as collateral damage considering their leaders apparently knowingly aided the enemy.
That children are victims of their geography makes me sad as a fellow human.
Maybe that's why they keep leaving the place.
How did they aid the enemy? The captured these guys, imprisoned them, and then later kicked them out of the country. Iran didn't share the intelligence, sure, but that isn't aiding Al Quaida.
Besides, Iran "aids the enemy" all the time, in the form of support for militias that fight against Israel. This isn't going to change a thing in bi-lateral relations (which are admittedly lousy).
Sounds like you're reading a different article. It's been well known over the years that Iran was holding bin laden's family members hostage. Iran had been aiding the afghani's against al-Qaeda and the Taliban long before the United States stepped in. Al-Qaeda declared Shia Iran as a bigger enemy/threat to Islam than even the United States. To ensure attacks wouldn't be made against Iran, the Iranians took many family members hostage. Simple as that. If you read above...all communication made that was intercepted was non-operational communication. Meaning they were not operating out of Iran. Remember at the start of the afghan was Iran helped the United States with maps and information on the al-Qaeda positions in Afghanistan. It wasn't until George bush labelled them as part of the axis of evil that things started to go wrong.
Of course...none of this is as ridiculous as your claim that the Iranian people are going to be destroyed. It just sounds so silly and childish, and speaks volumes about your level of intellect.
Who knowingly aided the enemy? Do you understand jail? Thats where the naughty people go
I had a guy in my local union who came from Iran, he is an Engineer Survayer. He and his famaly are good people and are catholics. After I got to know him I noticed him and his wife and kids in church.
Many Iranians must be nuts to support the tenth century mad Ayotollahs and their Mohmmed Ahmedjands!
How can they survive and rule so long!
"bin Laden sent his top managers, al-Qaida's Management Council, to Iran, arming them with money to bribe their way across the border, according to multiple US and Iranian officials."
Here Iranians were smarter.
They must taken money and jailed them.
If the Iranians were holding him no doubt they were digging for intelligence. Perhaps they were getting paid, who knows.
Sunnis and Shias really, really don't like each other and have been fighting wars against each other for a long time.
abby,
"Sunnis and Shias really, really don't like each other and have been fighting wars against each other for a long time."
That is so true. I saw a rather gruesome video once of some Sunni al-Qaeda men actually killing a young Iranian Shiite. He was lying on the ground, and they were shooting him repeatedly. Most Iranians are Shiites.
Shiites and Sunnis have been joing together while attacking non-Muslims!
Look at how they hate Israel and Jews.
Also examine the recent history of Pakistan, Bangladesh and other Muslim basket cases nations and genocides of non-Muslims.
For this reason: I strongly oppose our interventions in Shiites vs Sunni battles in Syria, Iran, Pakistan and other places.
While Shiites and Sunnis are killing each other, I cheer the oppressed, Shiites and I want Shiites to kill as many Sunnis as they can.
Roll out more Bin Laden...we need more money for military spending...
It's not a crime to marry someone's daughter. "Conspiracy to kill Americans"? Needs proof not guilt by association.
Well, this is worth about 100 brownie points for Iran.
It's a start, maybe we can talk more.
Here you go!
If you people care for the oppressed then Shiites deserve our full cheer leading!
By the by, we can give our ideas (only ideas from far off places and not near them) on how to kill Sunni Islamists.
Shiites should understand that after non-Muslims, they are the next set of infidels for Sunni Islamists.
But Shiites are not doing good job.
Assad and all Shiites should join hands to eliminate all Sunni Syrian rebels including their killers like al Qaida, MB, Salaffi and others.
I will cheer and clap Shiites most, if they attack Mecca and Medina and clean those places to dust!
As a next step: also Shiites should spare females in harems of House of Saud with 5000 princes and princesses and wipe out all males!
Let him go to Kuwait. If he has some intel, they'll find it. (And much more, I'm sure.)
"According to court documents, he has been charged with conspiracy to kill Americans, including actions related to the 9/11 attacks."
I'm glad to see they are charging him with something more than just being a relative of Osama bin Laden. I didn't think it was against the law just to be his relative.
Send him to Gitmo and hook electrodes up to his genitals and waterboard him until we run out of water. Let him live decades in absolute horror.
Maybe if the Republican congressmen kept their mouth shut instead of blabbing to the media, we could keep him in NY, get the intelligence and try him as a terrorist and if found guilty, imprison him for the remainder of his life like we have done for other terrorists before gitmo, like the first WTC bombers. Stop being afraid and lets live up to our country's ideals.
Great... so by your line of thinking the very people he helped to plot against can pay to let this man live in prison if (when) found guilty? Really? Give him three meals a day and the best room he has probably had in a while along with medical and dental care? Many Americans don't even have it so good.
I take issue with that.
He should be tried in NY, the place of their crimes.
There is no need to spend much monies on these terrorists. Try them quickly and punish them right away.
I can't help but think... if the safest place you can think of to flee to is Iran... You've made some serious mistakes in your life.
Why isn't he in Gitmo? Who can trust our do nothing 9% approval rating GOP Congress to do the right thing.
Maybe as part of a release agreement? There's no way in hell Iran would release him just to be shipped to Gitmo, even though Iran has just as poor a record on torture as the US does.
Nice article. Most of the time the media and government try to say Iran and Al queda are one in the same when in fact Iran and the US both hate Al queda and neither can stand Islamist terrorists and extremists.
Many of us hate Sunnis first and then Shiites!
I will support Shiites if they battle well Sunnis and eliminate all the Sunni Islamists.
I presume this guy was one of the al-Qaeda prisoners which Iran offered the US in 2003 in exchange for members of the MEK terrorist group which the US was sheltering in Iraq.
Too bad Cheney scuttled the offer merely because the MEK were his pet terrorists.
Personally I'm glad Iran kept him safe the last 10 years far far away from anywhere he could do damage.
Iran haters need to get caught up, because they are not the monsters we make them out as!
If you found out that your democratically elected leader was assassinated and a dictator imposed by a foreign country, would you be pissed? Well now you get the gist of the 1978 revolution. That's when we armed Iraq to invade Iran. That was before we armed Al-Qaida. In both cases we realized that the ones we armed were more dangerous than the ones we armed them against. Learn your history, people.
Not only that but the US-backed MEK terrorist group assassinated Iran's president in 1981, along with 70 other high officials. The current supreme leader has a paralyzed arm as a result of that bombing and I'm sure he remembers which country is ultimately responsible.......the very same one which has been sheltering the MEK in Iraq since 2003.
The MEK also killed at least 4,000 Iranian civilians in various attacks, far more than al-Qaeda has ever killed American civilians.
Overthrowing Iran's democratically elected leader, Mosadegh, because we didn't like his nationalization of Iran's oil industry, is the least of reasons why the Iranians should hold a grudge against us.
Most aggregious is the fact that we supported Saddam while he was gasing Iranian and Iraqi Kurds (Donald Rumsfeld traveled to bagdaded and shook hands with Saddam shortly after an especially gusome gasing of a Kurdish village, Halabcheh) with the help of the MEK. Also we later shot down an Iranian civilian airliner (Iran Air Flight 655), by accident, killing all 290 passengers - mostly women and childeren, just as the Iranians troops had begun advancing on Iraq, that was seen by the Iranians as a sign that we would back Saddam no matter what, and ultimately lead Iran to a cesfire with Iraq. Had we not meddled and let the Iranians deal with Saddam, neither gulf war would have been necessary.
Also in the 90s when the Taliban attacked the Iranian envoy to Afghanestan and executed the embasador, and the Iranians were about to go to war with Taliban, we averted it by threatening the Iranians (because apparently we prefared the Taliban over the Iranian mullahs). Again, had we not meddled, the safeground from which 9/11 originated may never have come about.
Well. I guess someone's got to actually catch the troublemakers in the US proxy army.
So then while the US is pulling terrorist groups off it's list, Iran is putting them on. But Iran is the terrorist sympathizer - just like Libya was despite hunting Al Qaeda down hard enough to be checking for them in flowerpots.
Splendid. Goes hand in hand with how Iran is "actively seeking to develop and use a nuclear weapon" the way all countries do. By never testing anything approaching one or even rolling one out of a hangar. Meanwhile, North Korea is literally firing them off and responding to scolding about one underground test by kicking off two more.
Good to see the BRA has its priorities in order.
Looks like Obama scored another victory against the terrorists, and the low informed lap dogs of the GOP can't handle it. Their comments are proof of it, Damn good comedy reading, but that's about all.
Which story are you reading? You are giving credit to the POTUS? We didn't catch him, much less the POTUS all by himself.
Talk about lap dogs for a party...
It would be a grave mistake if President Obama makes any secret deals with Iran. This culture is not to be trusted under any circumstance. They will turn on dime at any moment.
I think you're lying.
So they were smart enough to keep these guys off the street all these years, and we're upset about ? What?
And BTW - Iran's highest authority has forbidden them to develop nukes. So far, they don't have them. Personally, I think we ought to be looking for the real enemies. Iran hasn't done jack squat to us.
Two words: North Korea.
Bloomberg needs him in NY to lay the bait for a new attack. Not a smart move.
Since we have NEVER seen evidence from our government that Bin Laden did 9/11 we aren't going to see 9/11 evidence against his son-in-law EVER!!! Get a clue, folks. Get a clue.
Uh, right. You win the tinfoil hat award for the evening.
@Tetrapoda,
Come on, tinfoil hat manufacturer, come on. Show us the evidence. Put up or shut up.
Powell went on tv just after 9/11 and said the US would put down in writing for the world to see the evidence the US had on Bin Laden. The very next day Bush shoved a pie in Powell's face and said no one was seeing any evidence it was "classified". We invaded and began a decade plus of quagmire based on no evidence. We still havent seen the evidence we invaded on. Show it or shut up.
They are sending him to NY? Can you say ploy? They sent KLM to NY and we all remember how that turned out. Delay, delay, delay...
KLM eventually stayed in Gitmo and it has been 10 years since his capture and NO TRIAL.
This is a ploy by the admin to delay, delay, delay and then no public trial. The US cannot handle a respectable trial with open evidence, it has gotta be delay, delay and military tribunal.
J.P. ...........Time to go back to your rubber room. They will let you out for a few minutes next week if you are good.
@MM and Tetrapoda,
See? You got nothing, nothing, nothing but empty insults and delusion.
How smart is this?
We should also be naming the arresting officials, and print maps as to where he was arrested, and where by who and how long he was detained in Turkey, Iran and Jordan.
Be sure to name some names and give addresses. And a map to the jail he will be held in in New York and the case number, court location and trial times in case terrorists miss any of the details.
The news could have just said that he has been arrested and will face trial in the U.S., that would have been enough, but we like to brag more then we like to think about what we're saying. Did Turkey, Jordan or Iran shoot their mouths off like this?
They should have given him to Israel seeing they are the cause of this holy war as Husein claimed!
He tried to Hide in Iran because, as the article said, they felt that Iran's enemy (US) is also Bin Laden's enemy. Sadly for them, they where wrong. I wish we could just butt out of all the Shiitte (Sp) going on all over the world, and fix the problems at home. But, we have war mongers galore in congress so that will never happen.