Al-Qaeda Computer Expert Freed

You may recall the strange case of a Pakistani man accused of being a computer expert for al-Qaeda named Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan. He was captured 3 years ago in the city of Lahore along with a treasure trove of information found on his laptop - including intelligence that led directly to the capture of a Tanzanian man wanted in the bombing of our embassies in Africa.

Also on that laptop were plans to attack financial institutions in America. The Bush Administration subsequently issued a terror warning about these potential targets - a warning in the middle of a presidential campaign that was scoffed at by liberals as one more example of Bush lying about a threat in order to gin up "fear" and garner votes.

To counter this, someone in the Administration was stupid enough to leak Khan's name and value as an intelligence asset to the press. Right on cue, the left did a 180 degree turn and skewered the Administration for "outing" an intelligence asset - despite the fact that the reason it was done was to prove how idiotic the left was in the first place for downplaying the terror threat.

All of this is ancient history, of course - including Khan's incarceration which ended Monday:

Khan's lawyer, Babar Awan, confirmed that his client had returned to his family but said he had not been able to speak to his client to ask where he had been held, and by whom.

Awan said Khan was never charged or brought before any court.

Khan, an engineering graduate, was suspected of being a point man who sent coded e-mails to al-Qaida operatives possibly planning attacks in the United States, Britain and South Africa.

Twelve days after his arrest, Pakistani authorities pounced in the city of Gujrat on Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who had a $25 million bounty on him for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Information from those captured, including maps and photos found on their computers, helped prompt the U.S. government to issue a warning about a possible al-Qaida attack on financial institutions in New York and Washington.

I'm not much of a sporting man, but I would wager Mr. Khan will probably be heard from again. Considering the extraordinary value of the intelligence we were able to get off of his laptop - which also included information that led directly to the capture of several terrorists in London - he will probably find his way back to al-Qaeda and rejoin his comrades in order to go a-jihading.

Hopefully when next we hear of Mr. Khan, it will be from his obituary.

Hat Tip: Joe Crowley