The U.S. command said the man was believed to be a member of al-Qaida in Iraq and was preparing a series of suicide attacks inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the Iraqi government, parliament and the U.S. and other western embassies.
Khudhir Farhan was taken into custody Friday at the home of Adnan al-Dulaimi, the head of the largest Sunni Arab bloc in parliament, al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press.
"Credible intelligence indicates the individual, a member of Dr. Dulaimi's personal security detachment, and seven members of the detained individual's cell were in the final stages of launching a series of (car bomb) attacks inside the International Zone, possibly involving suicide vests," the U.S. military said in a statement without identifying the man by name.
We can't refuse to let any Sunnis into the government out of fear some are still the enemy. Otherwise we limit our options to killing the enemy. But we must be extra vigilant to prevent the enemy from using positions inside the government to conduct spectacular attacks within sight of Western reporters.
Nothing is easy in this type of war. Keep that in mind when some claim that their perfect plan would squelch the local Sunni jihadis, Baathists, foreign jihadis, Shia death squads, and criminal gangs who make up what is called "the insurgency."
