Temporary Archive: Suzanne Brockmann's Message Board

It was announced today that Hamza Rabia, one of al-Qaida's top five leaders, was killed in a rocket attack near the Afghan border. He was tracked down with U.S. help and killed by Pakistani security forces. He was believed to have become al-Qaida's operational commander, according to the AP report, after Abu Farraj al-Libbi was arrested in May. The Pakistani Information Minister said "Rabia's remains were identified via a DNA test." [If anybody wants to read the complete story, it is on the main Yahoo page, 4-12-05]

My question: wouldn't he have had to have been in custody previously for them to collect his DNA and then make the crucial DNA match that identified his remains? But my husband said if they had been able to obtain the DNA of members of his family, that that would allow them to make a "close enough for government work" match. And that probably the U.S. government has been collecting DNA from members of the families of known terrorists for quite some time.

I understand this may not be the right forum to ask this question ... but if you can answer, does this theory hold water?

Thanks.

Janet