Here’s one High Value Target

‘Most wanted’al Qaeda bomber held in Pakistan:

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian national is wanted for synchronised bombings that killed more than 200 people at US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

…

Ghailani was among seven people about whom the United States said in May it was seeking information amid fears of a possible attack in the near future.

Remember The New Republic’s story about alleged US government pressure to deliver High Value Targets during the Democratic National Convention? Here’s their update:

[Editor's Note: This afternoon, Pakistan's interior minister, Faisal Saleh Hayyat, announced that Pakistani forces had captured Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian Al Qaeda operative wanted in connection with the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The timing of this announcement should be of particular interest to readers of The New Republic. Earlier this month, John B. Judis, Spencer Ackerman, and Massoud Ansari broke the story of how the Bush administration was pressuring Pakistani officials to apprehend high-value targets (HVTs) in time for the November elections--and in particular, to coincide with the Democratic National Convention. Although the capture took place in central Pakistan "a few days back," the announcement came just hours before John Kerry will give his acceptance speech in Boston.]

The story claimed the US government wanted any announcements of arrests to be made during the first three days of the convention (26-28 July). John Kerry made his speech on 29 July — obviously, this allegation of the US government trying to pressure other governments for domestic political purposes is a complete fabrication.

Coincidence or not, the timing sure is incredibly convenient.

Update: You know, I was only kidding about the difference in dates proving the non-political value the timing of this capture has. Some people clearly aren’t.

Yo, what gives? It’s the 29th of July today, right? We wanted the ISI to turn UBL over on the first three days of the convention–not the last–the better to get the full news cycle…what happened?