Bombing Suspect and Alleged Al-Qaeda Leader Captured in Libya Defended by Kerry as 'Legal and Appropriate'

United States Special Operations forces captured an alleged al-Qaeda leader outside of his home in Tripoli on Saturday and are currently holding him on a Navy ship for questioning; Secretary of State John Kerry defended the operation after outcry from Libya by saying that the alleged operative was a "legal and appropriate target" for the military to seize, according to CBS News.

That act of seizing a suspected terrorist and removing him from the country he was captured in secretly is known as "rendition" and is very rarely carried out by the U.S. military; normally in cases of rendition the Central Intelligence Agency or the Federal Bureau of Investigation are in charge, according to the Washington Post.

Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, better known as Abu Anas al-Liby, was wanted in connection to the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. The operation to capture al-Liby was the second U.S. military mission launched to capture an al-Qaeda target on Saturday; an earlier mission by Navy SEALs in Somalia had failed to nab its target, according to the Washington Post.

"These operations in Libya and Somalia send a strong message to the world that the United States will spare no effort to hold terrorists accountable, no matter where they hide or how long they evade justice," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a statement. "We will continue to maintain relentless pressure on terrorist groups that threaten our people or our interests, and we will conduct direct action against them, if necessary, that is consistent with our laws and our values."

Saturday's operations show a change in tactics by the Obama administration. For much of the last five years suspected al-Qaeda operatives have been the target of drone attacks, a tactic that has come under scrutiny within the United States. It is possible that Saturday's maneuvers represent an effort by the administration to cut back, if not cease all together, the use of drones.

Al-Liby is thought to have conspired with Osama Bin Laden since the early days of al-Qaeda in the Sudan. Evidence from the bombings shows that al-Liby is a computer expert is one of the last remaining members of al-Qaeda from the 1990's, thus making the possibility of interrogating him and receiving intelligence information quite desirable, according to the New York Times.