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Counterterrorist agents pounced on five men, one in Utah and four in California, Wednesday as part of an investigation into the U.S. connections of a suspected senior al-Qaida operative imprisoned in Iraq. The Omar family has extensive ties in Jordan, where Shawqi Omar moved his family in 1995 and where he now stands accused of helping terrorist mastermind Abu Masab al-Zarqawi plot a chemical attack. Federal investigators believe Shawqi Omar acted as al-Zarqawi's "personal emissary" in several Iraqi cities. But back in Utah, Omar's brother Gus says there is no connection. "If you're a Sunni and from Jordan and in...

A federal judge on Monday ordered the U.S. military not to hand over to the Iraqi government a U.S. citizen suspected of being a senior associate of insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The case of Shawqi Omar is the latest legal fight that tests the limits on the Bush administration's power to keep Americans it has identified as terrorists out of U.S. courts. The Justice Department did not immediately comment on the ruling. The U.S. government said Omar, who also holds Jordanian citizenship, was harboring an Iraqi insurgent and four Jordanian fighters at the time of his arrest and also...

An American with ties to the Triangle is about to face an Iraqi court for allegedly conspiring with terror suspect Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. According to a high-ranking U.S. Military Officer, when Shawqi Omar was captured in his home in Baghdad, he was in possession of numerous weapons -- materials for making Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) -- and harboring Jordanian freedom fighters.

One of the most dangerous terrorists in the world, a major player in insurgent attacks in Iraq, lived in Utah for years and went to college here. He's a close associate of Osama bin Laden and the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. He's a shadowy figure named Shawqi Omar. Omar is currently being held by coalition forces in Iraq as an enemy combatant. He was arrested in 2004, but his name was made public just today. Omar's Utah connections were uncovered as part of a months-long investigation by NBC News. One of the places Omar lived was...

Shawqi Omar, 44, who once served in the Minnesota National Guard, has been held since late 2004 in U.S.-run military prisons as an enemy combatant. He has not been charged with a crime or been given access to a lawyer, said Jonathan Hafetz, a lawyer representing Omar's family in the United States. Separately, Omar, Zarqawi and 11 others have been indicted by a Jordanian court on charges they plotted a chemical attack against Jordan's intelligence agency. In March, Matthew Waxman, the Pentagon's deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, said a panel of three U.S. officers determined he was...

WASHINGTON - The U.S. government wants an Iraqi court to handle criminal charges against a naturalized American citizen who is being held in Iraq on suspicion that he is linked to insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The man's lawyers said he is innocent and likely to be tortured if he is handed over to the Iraqis. Shawqi Omar, 44, who once served in the Minnesota National Guard, has been held in U.S.-run military prisons since his capture in 2004. The government said Omar was harboring an Iraqi insurgent and four Jordanian fighters at the time of his arrest and also...

The American, Shawqi Omar, who lived for years in Minnesota, Utah and North Carolina, allegedly met with al-Zarqawi on numerous occasions and is related to the al-Qaida leader, through marriage, new federal court documents reveal. Omar is also one of 12 people charged Oct. 17, 2004, with plotting a chemical attack in Jordan. Omar traveled to Iraq in 2002, according to court records and family interviews, to pick up reconstruction business. The general said Omar had “several weapons and Improvised Explosive Device-making materials in his home,” and that there is “testimonial evidence of Mr. Omar's numerous private meetings with al-Zarqawi.”...