U.S. Forces Hold Suspected U.S. Insurgent in Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military in Iraq has detained a U.S. citizen who is thought to be a top aide to wanted Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

The man, who has dual U.S. and Jordanian citizenship, was seized following a raid on a Baghdad home late last year. He is believed to be the first U.S. citizen caught in connection with Iraq's two-year-old insurgency.

"He is being held at an internment facility in Iraq," said Lieutenant Colonel Guy Rudisill, spokesman for detainee affairs. "He's being held along with other detainees."

Rudisill said he had no details on the man's age or where he was from in the United States. He said he was born in Jordan and received U.S. citizenship later, but it was not known when. He has been interrogated by U.S. forces.

"We do know from interrogation that he has strong ties to the al-Zarqawi network," Rudisill said.

Legal action against the detainee will be taken in coordination with the Iraqi government, he added, leaving open the possibility that he could be handed over to the U.S. Justice Department.

Rudisill said the fact an American had been held in connection with the insurgency was only emerging now because no one had asked about it previously.

Zarqawi, who is al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, is the most-wanted man in the country. His group has claimed responsibility for many of the worst suicide attacks in Iraq, as well as the capture and beheading of several foreigners.

The detention of the American echoes the case of John Walker Lindh, a U.S. citizen who was captured fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan in late 2001.

Another poster boy for treason. My hope is that he gets the rope.