BAGHDAD, Iraq - The arrest of al-Qaida in Iraq's second in command took place in June, and not a few days ago as the Iraqi government had initially announced, the U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said Wednesday.
Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell said Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi, also known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana, was captured on June 19. He also said other suspects had been arrested and were in custody, but that their names had not yet been made public.
"As with most terrorists that are picked up, they are not initially announced as being captured because of the intelligence value that is normally gained from somebody not knowing that they are in fact in Iraqi government control," Caldwell said.
"There are other people in captivity right now who are not announced," the spokesman added.
Iraq's national security adviser, Mouwafak al-Rubaie, announced al-Saeedi's arrest on Sunday, saying it had occurred a few days earlier.
But Caldwell said what al-Rubaie actually meant was that clearance to make the arrest public had been given a few days before.
Caldwell said the arrest was the most significant since the death of al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a U.S. airstrike - which also occurred in June, in the same area - near Baqouba, a city 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
"There is no question that the al-Qaida in Iraq network has been degraded and disorganized here in Iraq," said Caldwell during a separate interview Wednesday with Associated Press Radio.
But he warned that the organization is resilient. "They're still going to be able to do strikes at different times that gain sensationalism on TV," he said.
Caldwell said Al-Saeedi's arrest was a blow against the organization and "provided an enormous amount of intelligence."
The spokesman said there was a link between the intelligence gathered during the operation that killed al-Zarqawi on June 7 and other operations that directly followed his death, and al-Saeedi's capture less than two weeks later. Caldwell would not say exactly what the link was.
He added that the man who masterminded the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra reported directly to al-Saeedi. That attack, 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, inflamed tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims and triggered reprisal attacks for months that have killed hundreds of Iraqis.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
