Lessons for American Muslims from the Conviction of Abujihaad

American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) founder Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser writes:

Wednesday’s conviction of Hassan Abujihaad should serve as a warning sign to the lethality and danger to our security from political Islam (Islamism). Islamism is an ideological clear and present danger to our security. Until we figure this out and finally begin the debate within the Muslim community about how to separate religion and politics within the Islamic consciousness, there will be many more traitorous Abujihaads produced out of the political grievance mills which many American mosques and American Islamist organizations have become.

A federal jury in Connecticut convicted Hassan Abujihaad, 32, formerly known as Paul Hall, of providing classified information to a London-based publication called Azzam Publications while knowing that it would be used in a conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens. Abujihaad, arrested in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 7, 2007, is due to be sentenced on May 23 and faces a maximum term of 25 years in prison, said Thomas Carson, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in New Haven, Connecticut.

Sean Holstege, Arizona Republic reports today about the Navy sailor’s quiet life and how it took a sinister turn. The Muslim American Society’s Arizona Chapter and Freedom Foundation (MAS-AZ) director, Deedra Abboud, dismisses Mr. Abujihaad as part of the “victim mentality” combined with a “little delusion.” I would imagine she harbors under the delusion that the MAS, CAIR (Council for American Islamic Relations) and other American Islamist organizations have nothing to do with that victimization mantra which she clearly acknowledges here as problematic — and yet remains the overwhelming central focus of the work of domestic Islamists like herself.

Secret FBI wiretaps recorded Abu-Jihaad talking of attacking a military recruiting base in Phoenix and a naval station in San Diego with a younger man, Derrick Shareef. In some of the transcripts, the two are recorded discussing the purchase of two automatic assault rifles for $1,300. They talk about calling their group the American Islamic Movement or the American Muslim Movement Organization.

Abu-Jihaad befriended Shareef, a drifter, at the Phoenix mosque, before inviting him to share his apartment. Abu-Jihaad taught Shareef radical Islamic ideology and trained him in weapons, court records show. They watched jihadist propaganda films of battle-scarred places such as Chechnya, which showed actual execution footage of Russian soldiers. Abu-Jihaad bought the materials from London-based Azzam Publications.

It was Azzam’s Web site — believed by prosecutors to be a conduit of money and equipment to al-Qaida fighters, including ones who massacred students at a Russian school — that landed Abu-Jihaad in trouble. Authorities raided the London apartment of the Webmaster and found a floppy disk with an e-mail from Abu-Jihaad. The Phoenix man had sent it while aboard the destroyer USS Benfold while in the Persian Gulf in 2001. It showed the movements of the battle group through the precarious Straits of Hormuz and discussed its vulnerabilities.

I believe the American people deserve an apology from Ms. Abboud (or from her previous employer, CAIR-Arizona) for defending a now-convicted traitor…

READ THE REST at Family Security Matters.

The New York Times thinly reported (via the AP) on this case. Go figure.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *