Another terrorist nabbed: Fresh proof that Uncle Sam doesn’t forget

Zubayr al-Bakoush isn’t the first key villain brought to justice for the deadly Sept. 11, 2012 attack on US diplomats in Benghazi, Libya — but his transfer Friday to custody pending trial in Washington, DC, is still a welcome reminder that Uncle Sam doesn’t forget.

Prosecution documents say he led the initial assault on the US Special Mission compound, a force armed with “assault rifles, other firearms and explosive devices,” beginning the 13-hour assault that killed US Ambassador Chris Stevens, State Department employee Sean Smith and CIA contractors Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods.

The feds have yet to say how, where or when they apprehended al-Bakoush, but he was first charged in US courts in a 2015 complaint, then sealed until now.

This follows the 2014 capture by US Special Forces and the FBI Hostage Rescue Team of of attack mastermind Ahmed Abu Khattala, who was handed 22 years of hard time after being convicted in 2017 — the same year the same enforcers nabbed another top plotter, Mustafa al-Imam, who’s now serving 19 years in prison.

It took nearly 10 years after 9/11 to bring Osama bin Laden to justice, so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that Uncle Sam has taken so long to get al-Bakoush.

On the other hand, it probably didn’t help that the Obama administration put its initial efforts into a coverup of the attack’s true nature.

(Not their last lie on the affair.)

This was an Islamist plot to mark the anniversary of 9/11 that caught the Obama team utterly flat-footed; they spent all the months until that November’s election shamelessly pretending it was a “spontaneous” riot prompted by an obscure online video.

But let’s walk away with the words of Attorney General Pam Bondi: “If you commit a crime against the American people anywhere in this world,” the US government will find you.

“It might not happen overnight, but it will happen. You can run, but you cannot hide.”

Let that always be so.