Charges filed against Gitmo detainee

Charges have been sworn against an Iraqi detainee held at Guantanamo Bay detention camp, the Pentagon announced late Monday. The Pentagon statement added that "military commission charges have been sworn against Guantanamo detainee Abd al Hadi al Iraqi." It indicated that the charges allege that Abd al Hadi, "as a senior member of al-Qaeda, conspired with and led others in a series of perfidious attacks and related offenses in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2004." The charges also allege that Abd al Hadi, who joined al-Qaeda 1996, "was a significant al-Qaeda liaison to the Taliban, to al-Qaeda in Iraq, and to other allied groups," and that he "commanded al-Qaeda's insurgency efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan." "Following his tenure as commander of al-Qaeda's insurgency in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the charges allege that Abd al Hadi continued his liaison role with al-Qaeda in Iraq and was ultimately assigned by Usama bin Laden to travel to Iraq to assume a position among the leadership of al-Qaeda's insurgency there," the statement noted. According to the Pentagon, "the maximum sentence for these charges, should the accused be convicted, is confinement for life."