‘Comical Ali’ Held, Then Released by U.S. -Arab TV

At first, I told myself this was unbelieveable. But on second thought, what a way to humiliate a guy. In the scheme of things, he wasn’t even important enough to arrest.

Former Iraqi information minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, who earned the nickname “Comical Ali” during the Iraq war, handed himself in to U.S. forces but was released after questioning, an Arab TV station said on Thursday.

Al-Arabiya TV said in a statement it would air an interview with Al-Sahaf at 3 p.m. EDT on Friday.

“Sahaf said he handed himself over to the American forces and the Americans interrogated him, then they released him,” the channel said, showing pictures of a gray-haired Sahaf during the interview.

Al-Sahaf, who gained his unflattering nickname for proclaiming the defeat of U.S. forces even as they moved into Baghdad and his habit of fingering loaded weapons during news conferences, was not on the U.S. “most wanted” list.