US Forces Nab 'Significant' ISIS Operative in Iraq

Now that US special forces are again operating on the ground in Iraq, an inevitable first has occurred: American troops have captured an operative of the Islamic State, reports CNN. Not much is known about the militant, though the New York Times describes him as a "significant" figure for ISIS. US officials are now interrogating the operative, which, as the Times notes, raises a host of thorny issues. He surely won't be the last ISIS member captured, but the US has no interest in holding these captives long term and raising the specter of the abuses that took place years ago at Abu Ghraib.

Instead, American officials plan to turn over the operative and any future prisoners to Iraqi or Kurdish authorities once they're done questioning. The Pentagon has informed the International Committee of the Red Cross of the militant's detention, though it was unclear whether the interrogations were being monitored. US special forces have been on the ground for weeks in Iraq developing intelligence, and CNN says the militant was nabbed in the first batch of missions to spring from that intelligence. (More Islamic State stories.)