WRONG GUY – AT 7:57 P.M. ET:  No Oscar tonight for Pakistani media:

An "important Taliban militant" was arrested today in Pakistan. But that is where the confusion started.

Earlier it was reported by Pakistani media that intelligence agents had arrested Adam Gadahn, the American-born spokesman for al Qaeda, in an operation in the southern city of Karachi.

It was further reported by the Associated Press and Reuters that Gadahn had been arrested, sourcing security officials.

We wondered about it.  The first story we posted this morning had Gadahn praising the Fort Hood shooter.

CBS News was told by sources in the Pakistan government that it was Gadahn, even after U.S. officials refused to confirm it was the California native for whom a $1 million reward has been posted.

Now, CBS News' Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad writes that earlier reports the detained individual was Gadahn proved false. According to a Pakistan security official who spoke with CBS News on condition of anonymity, the arrested individual is in fact "a Taliban militant leader who is known as Abu Yahya."

The official said evidence compiled from an interrogation of the suspect and information exchanged with U.S. officials verified the man's identify.

COMMENT:  Capturing Gadahn would have been a real coup.  It also would have presented the Obama administration with a dilemma.  Gadahn has been charged in absentia with treason, the first American so charged in decades.  Would the Obamans have seen the case through on a treason charge, which could prove explosive to its leftist supporters and some of the leftists brought into the Justice Department by Eric Holder?  We'll apparently have to wait for the answer.

March 7, 2010