Mickey Kaus wonders: [scroll down]: Why did we find out about the capture of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed almost immediately after the event? Wouldn’t it have been better to keep the arrest secret while the U.S. and its allies rolled up those al Qaeda operatives whose whereabouts could be traced through Mohammeds’ cell phone and computer, etc.? Why send out a worldwide alert, through CNN, to his co-conspirators, telling them it was time to scatter? Did the need for good publicity trump sound anti-terror techniques?… Slate

One way to make sense of this is suggested by Robert Fisk. Was Mohammed really arrested at all. Where’s the proof? Common Dreams [thanks, Miguel] The US has a knack for crowing about victories in the War-on-Terror® at the most politically convenient times. (As Fisk puts it, “In the theatre of the absurd into which America’s hunt for al Qa’ida so often descends, the ‘arrest’ — the quotation markes are all too necessary — of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is nearer the Gilbert and Sullivan end of the repertory.”) If the significance of this announcement lies in its propaganda value rather than any operational benefits, nothing would be served by not splashing it all over the front pages as soon as it “happened.”