Hizbullah Operative in Iraq to Face U.S. Military Charges

Ali Moussa Daqdouq, a Lebanese Hizbullah operative and the last prisoner held by American forces in Iraq, is set to face U.S. military charges, reported the New York Times on Thursday.

The American administration is cooperating with Iraq to transfer the detainee to the United States in accordance with Iraqi law, it added.

It said that the Obama administration’s approval of the military commission has allowed for the expansion of “the scope of the current tribunal system to include a defendant who is not accused of being part of the war with Al-Qaida.”

“But whether or not Daqdouq ever comes before a tribunal, the charges are a significant precedent,” it continued.

“Every previous defendant in the current system — the first version of which was established by President George W. Bush after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 — has been a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who was linked to the war against Al-Qaida and the Taliban,” it explained.

The New York Times report said however: “It is not clear whether the administration was actively seeking Daqdouq’s extradition, or whether the charges were prepared as a backup measure in hopes of keeping him locked up should Iraqis fail to prosecute him or should he be acquitted by an Iraqi court.”

“Officials have expressed concerns that the government of Iran may pressure Iraq to release him,” it noted.

Daqdouq is accused of being a Hizbullah operative and plotting the killing of five U.S. soldiers.

He also confessed to training Iraqi extremists in Iran.

U.S.-led forces captured him in 2007 and showed documents and names of 21 Iranian-backed militants who had been captured or killed while operating throughout Iraq.

In December, the United States handed Daqdouq to Iraqi authorities, sparking a political furor in Washington.

A complicated legal drama surrounded his fate as some Republicans had called for him to be taken out of Iraq by U.S. forces and sent to the U.S. war on terror camp at Guantanamo Bay, which President Barack Obama has promised to close, and reacted angrily to his handover.

"We are continuing to discuss this case with the Iraqis, and as of this morning, he has been transferred to Iraqi custody," said National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor.

"We take this case very seriously, and for that reason have sought and received assurances that he will be tried for his crimes.

"We have worked this at the highest levels of the U.S. and Iraqi governments, and we continue to discuss with the Iraqis the best way to ensure that he faces justice."

It is understood that Obama raised the case of Daqdouq directly with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki when he welcomed him to the White House this week.

Some Republicans had called for leaving U.S. forces to simply bring Daqdouq with them as they left Iraq.

But officials said that would be illegal, under security agreements between the two governments, and would have fractured the new and "enduring" relationship with Iraq that Obama vowed this week to build.

But Obama's critics in Congress reacted angrily to news of the transfer of Daqdouq. Senator John McCain called the move "disgraceful."

"The real test regarding Daqdouq was not whether the United States should violate our security agreement with Iraq in order to maintain custody of him outside of the country," McCain said.

"The real test was whether the United States could exercise our influence effectively with the Iraqi government to ensure that a committed killer of Americans would be held accountable for his crimes in the U.S. system of justice."

Daqdouq had been held by U.S. forces, but under the authority of the Iraqi government, under an agreement reached between the Iraqi government and the Bush administration.