Another Big Catch In Yemen

The political calculation: the Bush Administration wanted everyone to know it had nabbed an al-Qaeda big. The security calculation: it didn't want anyone to know who the person was while it "tickled the wires"--tried to provoke communications and movement that the U.S. could monitor. But the balls stayed in the air only a few days. Last week word leaked out that the captive was Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a thirtyish Saudi and a senior al-Qaeda lieutenant with a taste for naval terrorism. He is suspected of masterminding the attack on the U.S.S. Cole in 2000 and at least two other, abortive plots against Western ships. FBI agents also believe he trained the suicide bombers who carried out the 1998 East African embassy bombings. Al-Nashiri may not be a household name, but he's a good catch. He has been in U.S. gunsights for ages. On the morning of Sept. 11, new FBI Director Robert Mueller was being shown his picture along with those of other suspects in theCole bombing when word of the World Trade Center disaster arrived. Al-Nashiri's capture follows another success in Yemen earlier this month when senior al-Qaeda leader Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi and five others were incinerated by a missile fired by a CIA-operated Predator drone. U.S. officials hope al-Nashiri will lead them to others involved in the Cole and embassy bombings. --By Johanna McGeary. Reported by Elaine Shannon/Washington