“There was no trade ..........”

Laura Rosen has this in POLITICO/ here

"The NYT reports that the US transfered an Iraqi Shiite insurgent dhours before a British hostage was released:

Only hours before a British hostage was released, the American military turned over to Iraqi authorities one of the suspected leaders of a Shiite insurgent group believed to be behind the kidnapping, Iraqi officials said Thursday.

Both the Iraqi government and United States military officials in Iraq on Thursday denied that the British hostage, Peter Moore, had been freed after more than two years in captivity in exchange for the transfer of the suspected insurgent leader from American to Iraqi custody. ....

The man suspected of being an insurgent leader, Qais al-Khazali, has been accused by the United States military of being a mastermind behind the 2007 slayings of five American soldiers in Karbala, in central Iraq. He was captured by American forces two months after the killings.

On Thursday, Ali al-Dabbagh, a spokesman for Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, said that Mr. Khazali was still in Iraqi custody and that court officials were trying to determine whether Iraqi authorities could legally continue to hold him. ...

“There was no trade,” Mr. Dabbagh said.

In a statement on Thursday, the American military also denied that there had been any quid pro quo.

There was speculation on Thursday that Iran, which according to Iraqi and American officials provided money for the group, might have aided in the kidnapping or that Mr. Moore might have been held in Iran.

For those following the case of those Americans detained in Iran (and the case of Ardebili), worth noting what's not called a trade seems to be occurring.