By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Thursday Jeff Sessions and other Republican Senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta demanding answers about how Ali Masa Daqduq is managing to get freedom just a few years after being captured on the battlefield murdering Americans.
Ali Masa Daqduq is a captured Hezbollah terrorist who orchestrated attacks against American Armed Forces. The Obama administration turned him over to the Iraqis and now the Iraqis are planning to release Daqduq.
Sen. Sessions said, “The United States should never have relinquished custody of Ali Mussa Daqduq but tried him as a war criminal in a military court. Daqduq, operating outside the rules of war, murdered five American servicemen in Karbala, including Private Johnathon Millican of Locust Fork, Alabama, who was awarded the Silver Star for defending himself and others. Daqduq is a lifetime member of the terror group Hezbollah, and it is unthinkable that he is now poised to walk free.”
Sessions continued, “The Obama Administration’s conduct in this affair is consistent with their great discomfort at treating unlawful enemy combatants as the war criminals that they are. My colleagues and I feared this would happen if Daqduq were released into Iraqi custody, which is why we urged the Attorney General not to pursue that course. Our letter today seeks answers, and I look forward to receiving and reviewing the Administration’s response.”
In the letter, Sen. Sessions and the other GOP Senators say that the military had charged Daqduq with war crimes, including murder, terrorism, and espionage but that the Obama administration transferred the Hezbollah operative to Iraqi custody anyway. On May 7th Iraqi court has ordered that Iraqi forces release the Senior Hezbollah field commander.
In May 2011, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder testified before the Judiciary Committee about Mr. Duqduq. The GOP Senators claim that Holder withheld information from them at that time about the military’s efforts to charge Duqdug with war crimes. The letter asserts that in addition to the kidnapping Duqduq was involved in training the Iraqi Quds force in how to use Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). Sen. Sessions says that the Quds force is a special forces unit that is associated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
To read Sen. Sessions release in its entirety:
