Mar. 8 2010 - 1:02 am | 123 views | 0 recommendations | 9 comments

Pakistani news source insists American al Qaida Adam Gadahn arrested

By MICHAEL ROSTON

Image via Wikipedia

This story just keeps getting more and more confusing.

Noon-ish today. NBC News announced to the world via Twitter that Adam Gadahn, the California-born-and-raised Muslim convert who has long been al Qaida’s chief English language spokesman and propagandist, was arrested in Pakistan.

But then, various media outlets started dialing back the claim.

At this moment, MSNBC has a news report with a question mark in the headline, stating, “the reports were greeted with skepticism by U.S. intelligence officials, who said Pakistanis might have confused another detainee with Adam Yahiye Gadahn.”

However, Dawn, an English-language Pakistani newspaper, is standing by the claim in its latest report:

An American Al Qaeda leader, Adam Yahiye Gadahn, was arrested in Karachi on Sunday, US and Pakistani diplomatic sources told journalists here.

Gadahn was likely detained in Sohrab Goth, a major Pashtun area in northern Karachi, which also has a large population of tribesmen from North and South Waziristan.

Also known as ‘Azzam the American’, Gadahn has long been on the US ‘Most Wanted List’. Officials in Washington described his capture as ‘a major victory’ in the war against Al Qaeda.

via DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Top Al Qaeda leader reported held in Karachi.

Gadahan, who was indicted for treason, has a $1 million reward on his head. So someone either just became a millionaire, or a major Pakistani news source is not helping the country’s media outlets outgrow their reputations for shady reporting. I hope it’s the former. But in fairness, the “was likely detained” language casts some doubt on what reporters at Dawn actually know.

Just to repeat my earlier blog posts: there was an indication that Pakistani authorities had confused Gadahn with another possible American-born al-Qaida member. Additionally, it’s odd that another “American Muslims should slay their countrymen” video from Gadahn would drop the same day his arrest is announced. And NBC News’s lengthy gap between filing a full news report and publishing a tweet on the subject is also a sign of confusion in their news bureau over what was happening. On the other hand, there were also several iterations of “did we or didn’t we get Mullah Baradar” when that big capture was made several weeks back.

The White House has not yet chimed in – they certainly wouldn’t announce anything if it is the case that the CIA and FBI are uncertain about who Pakistan arrested. On the other hand, they may be waiting for the Oscars buzz to die down so they can command Monday’s news cycles with the big news that they’ve made the biggest terror bust in a very long time. Also, they probably don’t want to upstage the Sunday message with its focus on Iraq’s elections.

We’ll stay on it.