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March 8, 2007

Former U.S. Sailor Charged With Al-Qaeda Ties

Former sailor Paul R. Hall, aka Hassan Abujihaad, 31- a convert to Islam and a former communications specialist for the U.S. Navy, has been charged with violating terrorism and espionage laws by passing sensitive information about navy ships to al-Qaeda associates - while he was on duty with the U.S. Navy:

Hassan Abujihaad, 31, of Phoenix, is accused in a case that began in Connecticut and followed a suspected terrorist network across the country and into Europe and the Middle East.

He was arrested in Phoenix on charges of supporting terrorism with an intent to kill U.S. citizens and transmitting classified information to unauthorized people.

Abujihaad, who is also known as Paul R. Hall, is charged in the same case as Babar Ahmad, a British computer specialist arrested in 2004 and accused of running Web sites to raise money for terrorism. Ahmad is scheduled to be extradited to the U.S. to face trial.

During a search of Ahmad's computers, investigators discovered files containing classified information about the positions of U.S. Navy ships and discussing their susceptibility to attack.

Abujihaad, a former enlisted man, exchanged e-mails with Ahmad while on active duty on the guided missile destroyer Benfold in 2000 and 2001, according to an affidavit released Wednesday. He allegedly purchased videos promoting violent jihad, or holy war.

In those e-mails, Abujihaad discussed naval military briefings and praised those who attacked the destroyer Cole in 2000, according to the affidavit by FBI Agent David Dillon.

The documents retrieved from Ahmad show drawings of Navy battle groups and discuss upcoming missions. They also say the battle group could be attacked using small weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades. The ships were never attacked.

Abujihaad had a secret security clearance that would have allowed him access to that material, according to the affidavit.

Abujihaad is not the only Pentagon jihadi (note that this is as of 2004 - how many more since then that we don't know about?) that we've had, which brings up the politically incorrect issue of whether or not we can trust Muslims in the military. Perhaps a more appropriate question is given the fact that Islam demands allegiance to Islam and the ummah first, and everything else a distant last, how do we know where on the scale of Islamic fundamentalism and moderation a Muslim's belief lies, and to what degree he or she is willing to deviate from the Islamic faith so that America comes first? I believe that these are fair and important questions, the answer to which I see no easy explanation coming. In the way of a disclaimer, I have to admit that I have several Muslim friends that I believe could in fact be trusted in the military. However, how does America know it can trust my judgement! Although I whole-heartedly agree that in order to defeat the al-Qaeda Sunni threat (and the Iranian Shia threat), we need to reach out to moderate Muslims, and to some degree - trust them, the issue is going to continue to be which ones, and how do we decide which ones can be trusted.

Posted by Richard at March 8, 2007 10:02 AM

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