The Leader of the Insurgency

ABC News claims to have located the 'leader of the insurgency', a Mr. Sheikh Sattam al-Gaood. But according to the story he's more the anti-Abu Musab, even arranging the release of Jill Carroll. Indeed, Ms. Carroll's family thanked the good Sheikh after her release.

Their exclusive interview is filled with about as many details as you might find on a bucket of Kentucky Fried. Mr. al-Gaood,

..was once one of Saddam Hussein's closest business associates, and now says he is a proud leader of the Iraqi insurgency.

So, where was this big wig in the deck of cards? Nowhere. But here's a story about his dealings with Jill's dad, and here's another detailing his previous dabblings. Here's one that even refers to him as a "security consultant". Whoops?

A brief history includes being captured and detained as a high value detainee for a period of time after the invasion. This was enough to warrant him becoming a poster boy for Amnesty International for awhile, where he was described:

According to his relatives, Sattam Hameed Farhan al-Gaood had no political background and was not involved with the Ba'ath Party or former government security agencies

Funny, ABC continues to characterize him as someone on the Butcher's party list, and someone who's working to get his ex-pal back in power while he's not busy running the insurgency.

The fact he was freed means that either he wasn't as sinister as ABC says, or we screwed up by letting him go. Another angle--he was a nobody and we screwed up by nabbing and holding him. But whichever it was, he was kept in one of the secret facilities therefore it would stand to reason he knows quite a lot. My take is he's acting as an American agent (perhaps being forced to as terms of being released) and all the talk about Saddam is just cover.

Besides, everyone knows this guy runs the insurgency.