Passport for Amir Hossein Ardebili, an Iranian arms broker, who the U.S. deported to Iran March 13, 2012 after …The United States on Tuesday quietly deported an Iranian arms dealer back to Iran. The man was snagged in a controversial 2007 Immigration and Customs Enforcement sting that some lawyers contend set up a disturbing legal precedent.

If the United States can accuse an Iranian inside Iran of breaking U.S. law, abduct and jail him, can Iran then accuse Americans inside the United States of breaking Iranian law, abduct and jail them? That's the issue the case raises.

In all, Amir Hossein Ardebili, served four-and-a-half years in U.S. federal prison, including more than two years during which he was held in secret—a move that stirred controversy.

Ardebili "completed serving his prison sentence last month and was turned over to ICE for deportation," Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd told Yahoo News by email Wednesday. "Whenever a foreign national is convicted/pleads guilty to federal crimes and completes his or her prison term, they are typically then turned over to ICE for deportation from the U.S."

Ardebili, 38, an Iranian procurement agent from Shiraz, was lured to the former Soviet state of Georgia by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents in 2007 in a sting targeting illegal Iranian imports of western defense technology.

Deported to the United States, Ardebili was held in secret for 22 months before the Justice Department revealed the case against him ahead of his sentencing hearing in December 2009.  Ardebili was sentenced to five years in prison, including time served, after pleading guilty to having attempted to purchase "restricted military-grade radar, gyroscopes and cockpit computers deployed in the F-4 fighter jet," Reuters writes.

On Tuesday, Ardebili was escorted by U.S. agents to "Europe, where he was scheduled to catch a KLM flight to Tehran," Reuters writes. "Two U.S. officials briefed on the matter said that Ardebili's deportation moved with unusual swiftness."

There's "nothing unusual" in Ardebili's swift deportation, the Justice Department's Boyd said.

But some observers of the case wondered if his swift transfer to Iran is meant to facilitate the release of a former U.S. Marine currently being held by Iran on spy charges. Iranian authorities announced this month that they had overturned a death sentence for the former U.S. Marine, Amir Hekmati, 28, of Flint, Michigan, and were ordering a retrial.

And then there's the potential legal angle.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrives at the Manas Air Base, Kyrgyzstan March 13, 2012. (Scott Olson/AP)Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has arrived in southern Afghanistan on an unannounced visit, amid continuing efforts to try to limit the fallout from the shooting rampage Sunday by a U.S. staff sergeant who killed 16 Afghans.

"It is important that all of us—the United States, Afghanistan, the ISAF forces—all stick to the strategy that we've laid out," Panetta told reporters traveling with him to Helmand Province in southwest Afghanistan, Bloomberg Business Week's Viola Gienger reported. "All those involved need to 'bring this war to a responsible end and achieve the mission that all of us are embarked on.'"

Panetta is due to visit troops and meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on his two-day visit.

The Pentagon chief's trip to Afghanistan comes as British Prime Minister David Cameron, en route to a three-day visit with President Obama, said he believes the public wants to see things wrapped up in Afghanistan.

"I think people want an endgame," Cameron told reporters on his plane en route to Washington Tuesday, the Daily Telegraph reported. "They want to know that our troops are going to come home, they have been there a very long time. What I define as doing the job is leaving Afghanistan looking after its own security, not being a haven for terror, without the involvement of foreign troops. That should be our goal."

The United Kingdom currently has some 10,000 troops in Afghanistan.

There are currently some 90,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the Associated Press reported. Some 23,000 are supposed to exit the region by September of this year, leaving some 68,000 U.S. troops. Remaining international forces are due to leave Afghanistan at a steady pace after that, with an end date of 2014.

The top commander of international forces in Afghanistan, U.S. Marine Corps General John Allen, is due to testify on the drawdown plans at a hearing at the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.

A U.S. soldier killed 11 members of Ahmad Samad's family Sunday, including 8 of his children. (Allauddin Khan/ …

The U.S. military was investigating whether alcohol may have played a role in the shooting rampage that occurred in Afghanistan Sunday, when an Army staff sergeant allegedly shot and killed 16 Afghan civilians, CNN reported Tuesday.More...

"It is not clear yet if the alcohol belonged to the soldier and a toxic screening was conducted but the results have not been returned," CNN said, citing a U.S. military official.

A "probable cause" finding has been issued permitting the continued detention of the alleged chief suspect in the case, the CNN report said, citing an official with the NATO-led security force in Afghanistan.

Eleven of the 16 men, women and children killed in the rampage Sunday belonged to the family of Abdul Samad, and eight of them were his children under the age of 12, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

"When Mr. Samad, 60, walked into his mud-walled dwelling here on Sunday morning and found 11 of his relatives sprawled in all directions, shot in the head,