Top Hezbo Commander in Iraq Might Get Away

From Andrew McCarthy at NRO:

What Is Going On with the Hezbollah Commander Who Killed U.S. Troops in Iraq?
By Andrew C. McCarthy
Posted on July 21, 2011 11:22 AM

Ali Mussa Daqduq is the Hezbollah commander who trained the network of “insurgent” terrorists responsible for the killing of many American troops in Iraq — including the five murdered in Karbala (four in execution style) in a 2007 attack. I wrote about that incident back in 2009, when the Obama administration — in a shameful and reckless departure from prior U.S. policy — began negotiating with the Iraqi terror network and releasing its captured leaders in exchange for five British hostages (actually, the remains of British hostages — four of the five were dead). 
Daqduq has recently been back in the news because of the Obama administration’s bull-headed determination to give the most atrocious war criminals the gold-plated due process of American civilian trials. In May, at the Long War Journal, Bill Roggio reported that Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee had gotten wind of the administration’s plan to transfer Daqduq to the United States and give him a civilian prosecution for the wartime murder of American soldiers in Iraq.

The senators fired off a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, demanding to know Daqduq’s status and pointing out that he should be given a military trial for war crimes. They also expressed concern that if Daqduq were instead transferred to the Iraqi government, he would promptly be released — just as the Iraqis released the terrorists he trained once we’d transferred them. In nothing flat, he would, the senators predicted, “return to the battlefield and resume his terrorist activities against the United States and our interests.”
Now comes this report from the Associated Press [H/t Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch.]:

A Hezbollah commander held in Baghdad by the US military and considered a threat to American troops could be transferred soon to Iraqi authorities, and US security officials worry he could escape or even be freed.

Ali Mussa Daqduq worked with Iranian agents to train Shiite militias who targeted American soldiers in Iraq, according to the US military. He was captured in 2007 and US officials have linked him to a brazen 2007 raid in which four American soldiers were abducted and killed in the Iraqi holy city of Karbala.

If this report is true — and to my knowledge, it has not been confirmed that Daqduq has been or will be surrendered to the Iraqis — it would constitute one of the most irresponsible actions of the Obama presidency, and that is saying something. As Bill Roggio observed, Daqduq “is perhaps the most dangerous of the Shia terror commanders captured in Iraq” during the war. He is a veteran of nearly 30 years with Hezbollah, and he has commanded its special ops and the security detail of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. He was tasked by Hezbollah and Iran to build an Iraqi terror network that mirrored Hezbollah’s organization in Lebanon. In carrying out that mission, his main strategy was to kill Americans — and he carried that strategy out ruthlessly.

I realize that the debt-ceiling controversy is making it very hard to focus on anything else, but Daqduq must not be allowed to slip through the cracks. We need answers on what is happening, pronto.
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