Was American Born Suspect Planning Terror Attack On San Diego Navel Base

Was American-born Hassan Abujihaad plotting to attack a San Diego military base? FBI witnesses say Abujihaad, awaiting trial on charges that he told extremists about U.S. ship movements, also conspired to shoot military personnel. A judge is preparing to decide.

Hassan Abujihaad calmly listened to recorded phone conversations in federal court last week, in which he offered assistance in an ill-conceived plot to attack a San Diego military base and then snipe off soldiers trying to escape the attack.

Abujihaad, an American born Paul Hall, was arrested March 7 in Phoenix, and indicted March 21 in Bridgeport on charges of material support of terrorism and disclosing previously classified information. In 2001, while in the Navy, Abujihaad allegedly emailed classified information about ships’ locations in the Middle East to Azzam Publications, a pro-jihad website hosted by a Connecticut company. This was months before 9/11. Abujihaad’s email said the U.S.S. Benfold, a Navy destroyer, would pass through the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf on the night of April 21, 2001, when the ship would experience a communications blackout. During the blackout, Abujihaad wrote, “they have nothing to stop a small craft with RPG etc.” In another email he praised the 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Cole, saying “psychological warfare [was] taking a toll.”

In U.S. District Court in New Haven last week, government lawyers played dozens of recorded conversations between Abujihaad, his friend Derrick Shareef and an FBI informant, William “Jameel” Crisman.

Recorded conversations between the three are a curious mixture of American slang (dude, man, ol’ boy) and Islamic phrases that were translated for the judge and court reporter. (After the first day of testimony, the court reporter asked: “Sounds like enchilada?” The answer: Insha’ Allah, or God willing.)

Quirks aside, those conversations are alarming: They paint Abujihaad as a disgruntled Muslim American considering “defensive jihad.” He laughs at the thought of killing American soldiers and admires an Iraqi sniper video. There’s no real smoking gun in these conversations (although there is a semi-confession), but they reveal a paranoid would-be terrorist with a “consciousness of guilt.” The government’s lawyers are asking federal Judge Mark Kravitz to allow them to use these 2006 recordings in a jury trial about the 2001 email.

Evidence should keep the jury’s eye on the ball, says Jeffrey Meyer, a former federal prosecutor and Quinnipiac University law professor. That means the prosecution can’t introduce evidence unrelated to the offense, in this case the 2001 email of classified information. Kravitz will have to make a decision as to how far the prosecution can go: Do these taped conversations from 2006 illuminate Abujihaad’s mind-set and motivations or do they unnecessarily make him look like a scary guy? These tapes could strike fear in the jury and Kravitz will decide whether or not the public will get to hear them again.

Source – Read More