  WHERE'S WALDO? urlLink In a tremendous coup , Pakistani authorities and CIA officers today captured Al Qaeda field general urlLink Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in the city of Rawalpindi, along with two other Al Qaeda suspects. He was whisked out of the country and whether he was in U.S. custody or where he was headed was unclear. My thoughts on where he might be: Because of his senior status within the organization, there is a strong expectation that he knows a lot about Al Qaeda's operations in progress or in planning, how Al Qaeda is run, who is who, and where they are. Some wishful thinkers suggest that he may even know of Osama Bin Laden's whereabouts. This means, more than anything else, the U.S. wants him to pump him for information - as much as it can get. If he's a tough guy who won't talk under normal American standards of interrogation, he may be given to another government, one that does not have such compunctions. [ The Israelis? The Pakistanis? Afghans? The French? ] Whether the U.S. can do this with foreknowledge of torture is dubious, but who's to call them on it? If the U.S takes him, I'd bet he'd first be shipped to Diego Garcia, because of its security, remoteness, and the military facilities there.
He may end up with his Al Qaeda comrades at Guantanamo Bay, "Cuba" (along as some urlLink regular Afghans who were in the worst possible place at the worst possible time) If Khalid Shaikh Mohammed's in Pakistan, they sure as heck won't let anyone know he's still there. This would probably incite terrorist responses, disturbances and demonstrations/riots, especially if Pakistani extremists figure out where he is being held. urlLink This article in today's Washington Post says Mohammed and the Arab with whom he was captured were transferred to U.S. custody and sent to a U.S. detention center, whose location is only known to be "outside Pakistan. " The article says the reason for all the secrecy is anti-American sentiment in Pakistan as a U.S.(-led) war against Iraq looms on the horizon.
UPDATE: Pakistan Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said today that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is urlLink still in the custody of Pakistani law enforcement (and inside Pakistan). This was confirmed by Pervez Musharraf's spokesman, Rashid Qureshi. I would bet the source of the statement that Mohammed was out of the country was concerned about the potential for disturbances I mentioned above and didn't want to reveal that Mohammed was still in the country.
Not that I should be congratulating myself or anything. U.S. officials said Saturday that Mohammed is expected to be interrogated in an undisclosed foreign country, and the Pakistani source could have just been anticipating what he expected to happen. INTERESTING FACT: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed urlLink is the uncle of World Trade Center Round I bomber urlLink Ramzi Yousef . Great family. 
