An update on Wesam al-Delaema, who was indicted in 2005. "Home court vantage - Insurgency suspect faces raps in U.S.," from Associated Press:
WASHINGTON - An Iraqi-born Dutch citizen who preened for the cameras in a jihadist video was hauled into a U.S. courtroom yesterday to face charges that he plotted to kill Americans in Iraq with roadside bombs.
Wesam al-Delaema, 33, is the first suspect to face charges for insurgent violence against Americans in Iraq, the Justice Department said.
Delaema has been wanted by the United States since 2003, when he and his fellow "mujahedeen from Fallujah" videotaped themselves planting explosives along an Iraq road used by U.S. troops. The explosives did not result in any deaths.
He was extradited over the weekend from the Netherlands, which first imposed a series of conditions on the U.S.
"After a lengthy extradition process, this defendant will now face justice for his efforts in orchestrating and launching roadside bomb attacks against our men and women serving in Iraq," Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein said.
Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said that Delaema will be tried in a federal court - not by a military commission such as those set up for terror suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The U.S. will also not oppose Delaema serving his sentence in a Dutch prison if he is convicted, Boyd said.
Delaema traveled to Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion. In extradition hearings in the Netherlands, he argued that he was forced to make the video after being kidnapped and beaten. He said he feared being beheaded if he resisted.
A traditional Muslim merely vacationing in a war-torn country when he was kidnapped by traditional Muslims and forced to make traditional Muslim statements.
This guy killed or at least tried to kill US troops, not Dutch soldiers. Instead of extraditing him and having to meet conditions imposed on us by the Dutch, it would have been--and be--better in future--to quietly have such perpetrators either seized and brought to justice in the US--as has been done with Latin American drug lords--or to be quietly taken out.
I've read and heard about this case, it wasn't so much that the Dutch were unwilling to cooperate with the US authorities, but that they had there own investigation going into what this guy was up to in Iraq.
It is true that conditions exist but those exist for all suspects that are asked by the USA to be extradited, things like no prospect of the death penalty, a fair trial etc.
Also a lot of political pressure was involved from the left because of US policies concerning suspected terrorists and suspected human rights violations.
So it had to be very neatly wrapped up and tied with a bow string before he could be extradited and face trial in the US.
He certainly does not seem like the typical Jihadist.More like a guy in the wrong place at the wrong time falling in with a very bad crowd.Not someone who is very religious or shows hatred of infidels,not sure if that actually excuses his actions.But a typical Jihadist he surely was not.He even lived with other infidel Dutch men and woman , didn't pray,and even showed them the video after he came back from Iraq.Which is how authorities found this guy.He presumed that no one would even consider his actions a crime.If he is a real Jihadist, then he surely is the dumbest Jihadist known to man.
How did he get away from his "captor?" Jihadists in Iraq do not have a reputation for releasing captives..If they beat you, they usually kill you...Does he exhibit any scars or broken bones from the beatings? In his video it appears he is a willing participant and it has been shown that a jihadist does not necessarily have to be smart to participate in a terror campaign.. Jihadists prefer the stupid over the smart, the followers over the leaders, the mindless over the thinkers...I do not believe his story...