As our troops left, terror suspect handed over to Iraq

It was with little fanfare that the last combat US troops left Iraq yesterday. Eli Lake, writing for the Daily Caller, gives a possible reason for the shyness.

As it formally wrapped up war operations in Iraq, the Obama administration handed over terrorism suspect Ali Musa Daqduq to Baghdad's government, dealing a blow to U.S. military and intelligence officials who wanted him tried by a U.S. tribunal on charges he plotted the killings of five American soldiers.

The White House said Friday night it has tried to secure assurances from Iraq that Daqduq will be tried in that country for his role in the January 2007 killings, but U.S. intelligence fears he will eventually be released to Iran, where he has been linked to Hizbullah and the notorious Quds Force.

The administration's decision drew a swift, harsh rebuke from a Republican senator who had pressed in recent weeks to have Daqduq tried by a U.S. military tribunal."

Daqduq is one of the worst of the worst," Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa said. "He's got a significant record of terrorist activity with Hizbullah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force, even training them. The handover to the Iraqi government causes grave concerns in my mind that he'll find his way back to the battlefield where undoubtedly innocent people will be killed."

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