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Al-Golani’s ties to al-Qaida stretch back to 2003 when he joined extremists battling U.S. troops in Iraq. The native of Syria was detained several times by the U.S. military, but remained in Iraq. During that time, al-Qaida usurped likeminded groups and formed the extremist Islamic State of Iraq, led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In 2011, a popular uprising against Syria's Assad triggered a brutal government crackdown and led to all-out war. Al-Golani's prominence grew when al-Baghdadi sent him to Syria to establish a branch of al-Qaida called the Nusra Front. The United States labeled the new group as a terrorist...

Also see related article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48424-2004Jan1.htmlAllies Feel Left Out in JSF Fighter-Jet Program Lockheed, Pentagon Urged to Share Data By Renae Merle Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, January 2, 2004; Page D10 As Lockheed Martin Corp. begins building the first test models of the Joint Strike Fighter, some foreign partners object to security restrictions that the U.S. government has imposed on the project, initially hailed as a prototype for international cooperation. Some foreign participants in the project who assumed they would get access to certain sensitive technology have found the Pentagon unwilling to share it. Also, some companies complain that...