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...
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