Feds arrested Phoenix man for allegedly killing two Iraqi cops in al-Qaeda-linked attacks

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/02/03/alqaeda-iraq-arrest/

By Katie Shepherd

Feb. 3, 2020 at 7:00 a.m. EST

When members of the large Iraqi immigrant community in Phoenix heard federal agents arrested a local driving instructor for allegedly killing two Iraqi police officers in al-Qaeda-linked attacks in the Iraqi city of Fallujah nearly 14 years ago, they could not believe the accusation.

“There is like no way,” 18-year-old Eva Kabejan, who had taken classes at the man’s driving school, told the Arizona Republic. “He’s a hard-working guy. He’s really good guy.”

Several people who had come to know Ali Ahmed since he came to the United States as a refugee in 2008 struggled to understand the serious allegations leveled against the 42-year-old, the Republic reported. Ahmed, who became a U.S. citizen about two years ago, had embraced an exciting bachelor’s life before recently getting married and having his first child this year, his friends said. He loved animals and planned to build a little farm on property near Phoenix, the Republic reported.

But Ahmed had a darker past that no one in Arizona knew about, federal officials allege. On Friday, the Justice Department announced that federal officials last week arrested Ahmed, whose full name is Ali Yousif Ahmed al-Nouri, for the deaths of two Iraqi police officers and planned to extradite him for murder.

“A Phoenix-area resident, who is alleged to have been the leader of a group of Al-Qaeda terrorists in Al-Fallujah, Iraq, appeared today before a federal magistrate judge,” the Justice Department said in a statement. “He is wanted to stand trial in Iraq for two charges of premeditated murder committed in 2006.”

</snip>

I'm not sure what to think about this. His subsequent life in the US belies that of a cold-hearted killer.

[2naSalit]

1. Reminds me of all those

Nazis who got away for decades, their neighbors loved them because they didn't really know who they were. It happens. I wouldn't be surprised if this were true, and if it is, was he going to act out eventually? I speculate, of course but he's not being charged by state authorities, this is federal, so I feel there is some possible validity to it.

[Dennis Donovan]

2. There's a difference between Nazi war criminals and this person

Nazis were exterminating an entire race. al Qaeda in Iraq was fighting an invading force.

[Archae]

10. They were jockeying for power.

That's why they committed atrocities.

[marble falls]

3. What happens when an occupying force intentionally degrades all civil authority in the occupied ...

country. Can anyone in either country say there is any justice to be found in this case for this man?

[2naSalit]

4. Good question...

It's not like we haven't been lied to, a lot, through this hole mess.

[marble falls]

6. Who really knows the what or why of what he did or didn't do? I sure wouldn't trust justice in ...

Iraq right now, particularly for something alleged from 2006.

We never jailed the guys on our own side that shot up a crowd of Baghdadis picking up their children at a public school.

Who got charged for Abu Ghraib? Two enlisted personnel and one Reserve Major. And you know which two went to prison.

[2naSalit]

7. True...

It's hard to tell. Guess we need to clean up our own act before we start foistering ourselves on others. I was just concerned about security issues and the worst case scenario, it's something I've come to doing often these days.

[marble falls]

8. It s not as if we haven't been give more than our fair share of dismal news with no ...

pretense of fairness or justice right here in the US. in our own Congress.

[Dennis Donovan]

5. +1

[greenjar_01]

9. Eddie Gallagher

That is all...