ARAB-US RELATIONS - July 18 - Senior Iraqi Al-Qaeda Man Held, Claims US.

US military officials says they have caught a top Iraqi operative in al-Qaeda's Iraq network. Brigadier General Kevin Bergner said troops had captured Khaled al-Mashhadani, also known as "Abu Shahid", in the northern city of Mosul on July 4. He said Mashhadani had given them information about an elaborate media operation that he had run aimed at putting an "Iraqi face" on a network that US sources have frequently said is dominated by foreigners. Brig Gen Bergner said Mashhadani was a close associate of Abu Ayub al-Masri, an Egyptian thought to head al-Qaeda in Iraq, and the Iraqi network's main link to Osama bin Laden. Al-Qaeda's own internal communiques describe Masri as a "war minister" of the "Islamic State of Iraq", headed by an activist of Iraqi descent known as Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. But Brig Gen Bergner raised doubts about the existence of the Islamic State saying it was a "virtual organisation in cyberspace" and that Baghdadi was a fictional character whose internet declarations were read by an actor. The US military has previously said that only 5 per cent of al-Qaeda's membership in Iraq is non-Iraqi. But they have suggested the leadership is dominated by foreigners and follows an externally-imposed agenda.