Osama bin Laden's spokesman, and son-in-law, was recently captured in Jordan and apparently read his Miranda Rights. He will immediately be flown to New York, and is set to appear in a New York court room, as early as Friday, intelligence reported.
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who appeared alongside bin Laden in a 2001 video in which they took responsibility for September 11 attacks, will be charged under an indictment.
New York Republican Representative Peter King, the chairman of the Sub-Committee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence described the importance of his capture, in the continuing United States war against al-Qaida, and its affiliates.
"I commend our CIA and FBI, our allies in Jordan, and President Obama for the capture of al-Qaida spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith. I trust he received a vigorous interrogation and will face swift and certain justice," King said.
Now that Abu Ghaith has been captured and reportedly sent to the U.S., lawmakers still remain bitterly divided about how to deal with terror suspects. House Intelligence Chair Mike Rogers, a former FBI and Agent and Republican from Michigan, strongly criticized the administration for reportedly bringing Abu Ghaith to the United States, rather than sent to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Rogers said that Mirandazing a top al-Qaida for trial creates a host of problems. The Cuba-based facility was built to handle high value prisoners. Moufaq Khatib, NBC News producer in Jordan, confirmed with Jordanian sources that Abu Ghaith was sent by Turkey via Jordan to Kuwait, and intercepted in Jordan and brought to the U.S. He is expected to face face terrorism charges in U.S. federal court in New York City.
According to officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Turkish officials captured Abu Ghaith in the capital Ankara, where a court ruled he had entered the country illegally with a fake passport. The Turkish government then deported Abu Ghaith to his birthplace in Kuwait, but arranged for him to transit through Jordan where he was ultimately taken into custody by U.S. law enforcement.
Abu Ghaith is a Kuwaiti Islamist. He rose to worldwide attention following the September 11 attacks. He appeared on two widely circulated videos (first broadcast on al Jazeera television) to defend the attacks and threaten reprisals for the subsequent U.S. invasion of Afghanistan on October 10, 2001.
"Americans should know, the storm of the planes will not stop," he said. "There are thousands of the Islamic nation's youths who are eager to die just as the Americans are eager to live."
