Iraq delays taking militant amid doubts in US

Dubbed by a former CIA officer as “the worst of the worst,’’ Daqduq is accused of working with Iranian agents to train Shi’ite militias who targeted US soldiers in Iraq. He was linked to a brazen 2007 raid in which four American soldiers were abducted and killed in Karbala.

Several days ago, Iraqi Justice Ministry spokesman Haidar al-Saadi said Daqduq would be handed over to Iraqi custody by the end of the week.

But yesterday, Saadi said Baghdad would wait until the US. has finished an investigation of Daqduq before taking custody of him, leaving the timing unclear.

“When their investigation ends and he is transferred to the Iraqi side, we will then announce this event,’’ Saadi said. “I can’t give you an expected date.’’

Unless the US prosecutes him, the American military must transfer custody of Daqduq and any other detainees to the Iraqi government by Dec. 31 under a 2008 security agreement between Washington and Baghdad. But Congress and the White House have slowed his case by feuding about whether to bring him to the United States for trial or send him to a military court at the Navy base at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

If surrendered to the Iraqis, US counterterror officials think Daqduq will soon be out on the streets.

Numerous high-profile terror suspects have escaped from Iraq’s prisons, including some whom investigators said likely had inside help. Additionally, Iraq has released tens of thousands of terror suspects who were captured by US forces during the height of the war because of what Baghdad has described as little evidence tying them to crimes.

Or, US officials fear, Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government will simply free Daqduq, given Baghdad’s recent efforts to improve diplomatic ties with Iran, which has funded training for Shi’ite militias. In a slap to the Obama administration, Iraq’s government in 2009 released two of Daqduq’s acolytes - Laith and Qais al-Khazali, who also were implicated in the Karbala attack - after being lobbied by the Iranian-linked Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia.