US judge considering plight of US prisoner in Iraq

[ECH1969]

A U.S. judge is considering whether to block an American citizen linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and now held in Baghdad from being transferred to Iraqi custody, court documents showed on Wednesday.

Omar was indicted in Jordan in 2004 along with Zarqawi and others for plotting a thwarted chemical attack. Omar had close ties to Zarqawi and was believed to have acted as the al Qaeda leader's personal emissary to insurgent groups in several cities in Iraq, a U.S. military official said in documents filed in U.S. District Court.

In response to a request by Omar's family members in the United States, U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina last week temporarily blocked Omar's transfer to Iraqi custody.

The Justice Department has urged Urbina to set aside his order and allow the process to continue in Iraq. The department said Omar is being held pending trial by an Iraqi court and if he is convicted he would be handed over to Iraqi custody.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1594757

[Eugene]

1. This is scary.

Shawqi Omar has a case to answer for crimes under U.S. law. If the U.S. has him,
then the U.S. should try him. A related AP article (U.S. Citizen May Be Handed Over to Iraqis)
says that Omar has been declared an "enemy combatant" with no legal rights.
The U.S. wants to hand him over to a militia-dominated Iraqi "justice" system
with a proven and obvious record of torture and murder.

Whatever Omar allegedly did, if the courts let this happen, then the rule of law
for Americans has ceased to exist.