Hassan Abujihaad, 31, was arrested today (Mar 7) in Phoenix on federal charges of terrorism and espionage. The former U.S. Navy sailor went by the name Paul Hall. The federal complaint alleges that he gave classified information about Navy battle group movements to a London-based group that supported Islamic terrorists including Al-Qaeda. The Navy battle group was engaged in anti-terror operations.
Federal prosecutors say Abujihaad was stationed on the U.S.S. Benfold in the Middle East which was one of the ships that’s movement was revealed.
Emails by Abujihaad allegedly praised Osama bin Laden and the 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Cole and said such tactics were working and taking their toll.
What the article doesn't say is that Abujihaad is the eighth Muslim in the US Armed Forces to turn against his country in favor of jihad. All this in just the last three years.
Daniel Pipes said three years ago,
The news last week that two Muslim military personnel, James Yee and Ahmad al-Halabi, had been arrested on suspicion of aiding Al-Qaeda prisoners at Guantánamo Bay (with another three Muslim servicemen under watch) seemed to prompt much surprise. It should not have.
It has been obvious for months that Islamists who despise America have penetrated U.S. prisons, law enforcement, and armed forces. In February, milestone Wall Street Journal established that imams who consider Osama bin Laden "a hero of Allah" dominate the Islamic chaplaincy in the New York state prison system.
In March, I documented the case of FBI Special Agent Gamal Abdel-Hafiz: His superiors not only overlooked this immigrant's pattern of pro-Islamist behavior, they promoted him.
The Akbar incident prompted Deanne Stillman of Slate magazine to conclude that Islamists "may be infiltrating the military in order to undermine it."
That infiltration also has a mundane quality; take the example of Nabil Elibiary: An Islamist who protests the "defaming" of bin Laden and defends polygamy, he also led the holiday prayer service at an Air Force base early this year.
Executive-branch insistence on "terrorism" being the enemy, rather than militant Islam, permits this Islamist penetration.
And it continues. The Defense Department responded last week to the chaplain's arrest by defending its hiring practices. Only under external pressure, notably from Sens. Chuck Schumer and Jon Kyl, did it agree to reassess them. Even then, the Pentagon insisted on reviewing the appointments of all 2,800 military chaplains - rather than the 12 Muslims among them.
Political correctness run amok! Which Christian or Jewish chaplains would be accused (as the Washington Times has reported of their Muslim colleague Yee) of "sedition aiding the enemy, spying, espionage and failure to obey a general order"? By pretending not to see that the enemy emerges from one source, the authorities dilute their focus, render their review nearly meaningless and endanger security.
The U.S. government needs to use common sense and focus on militant Islam. It should consider such steps as:
- Breaking off contact with organizations (like the Islamic Society of North America and the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Council) that place Islamists in government jobs.
- Suspending presently employed Muslim personnel who got their jobs through those institutions until their loyalty can be confirmed.
- Working instead with anti-Islamist Muslim groups, such as the Islamic Supreme Council of America for Sunni Muslims and the American Muslim Congress for Shi'ites.
- Confirming that government-employed Muslims do, as many of them swore under oath, "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic." A mechanism is needed to identify employees with an Islamist outlook and expel them from government service.
Ironically, the Defense Department finds it easier to kill Islamists in Afghanistan than to exclude them from its own ranks. But only if the latter is carried out can Americans be confident their government is fully protecting them.
JIhad Watch rightly draws the same conclusion,
But in any case, one thing is certain: no one in the Navy was even asking him the right questions to determine where his loyalties lay. Political correctness made sure of that.
Here's a pdf of the charges, see pg 32 to read the emails in question. Page 43 is especially damning.
Debbie Schlussel says, Surprise, surprise... Kesher Talk has a nice round up.
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