Former Sailor Spy Was Roommate with Rockford Mall Terrorist

It turns out that the former Navy sailor accused of disclosing secret military information for purposes of supporting terrorism, Hassan Abujihaad, 31, (“Former sailor arrested on terror charges”), was once a roommate with Derrick Shareef. Shareef was arrested in December for planning to blow up Christmas shoppers in a Rockford, IL mall. (“Mall a terror target: Feds”).

I commented on Shareef recently only to illustrate the malevolent influence of the Nation of Islam, of which Shareef was an adherent. (“Detroit Clergy Look Forward to Ecumaniacal Embrace of Nation of Islam”). Among Shareef’s stated crimes were his determined plan to murder Jews and other Kaffirs. He also flagrantly failed to substitute the expression “the n-word” for the prohibited expression, “nigger,” but his NOI membership buys him some immunity on that one.

This is one of the things I find interesting. According to the DOJ’s own press release announcing Shareef’s arrest, the government’s “charges allege that Shareef was acting alone.”

One of the two sources stating that Shareef was acting alone was U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who happens to be US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

We all know him from his other crime-fighting mission as the special prosecutor who just managed to convince Scooter Libby’s jury to convict him as a symbol of disapproval for a never-proven conspiracy within the Bush administration to mention the employment status of a Washington socialite and well-known CIA bureaucrat.

I don’t recall Fitzgerald ever being quoted in any press releases suggesting that Libby “was acting alone.” In fact, the whole shameful Valerie Plame fiasco was forever being described as one thread in a conspiracy of Bush administration officials leading to the highest levels. Liberals promised one another there would be mass frog-marchings and impeachments. Instead, Fitzgerald achieved this penny-ante verdict, and as good as admitted his investigation had reached a dead end and he was going back to Chicago.

And now back to the former sailor and spy, Abujihaad. According to the Associated Press story, (“Former sailor arrested on terror charges”),

"The investigation that began in Connecticut followed a suspected terrorist network across the country and into Europe and the Middle East.

"Abujihaad, who also is 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."

While on active duty as an enlisted man aboard the guided-missile destroyer, USS Benfold, Abujihaad used his classified access to sensitive material to email Ahmad with the intent of enabling jihadist attacks on US ships.

"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."

But the AP story continues:

"Ahmad was arrested in 2004 but the case against Abujihaad apparently received a boost in December following the arrest of Derrick Shareef, 22, of Genoa, Ill., near Chicago, who was accused of planning to use hand grenades to attack holiday shoppers at a mall.

"According to the affidavit, Shareef and Abujihaad lived together in 2004 when Ahmad was arrested. After reading news reports of the case, Abujihaad became upset and said, 'I think this is about me,' Shareef told investigators."

Does anyone but me think this is extremely weird?

I never believe that anyone espousing violent jihad is ever acting alone, in spite of law enforcement authorities constanly spinning their statements that way. But in Shareef's case it was easy to believe that he was not part of a well-organized terror cell. His plan was poorly thought out, and he was trading stereo speakers for hand grenades with someone who turned out to be an FBI informant.

But surprise! Shareef was indeed connected to a network that was international in scope, financed, and sophisticated enough to plan deadly attacks on US warships using stolen US military information.

I’m not pretending I can tie all this up. I just find the ironies too painful in light of what just happened to Scooter Libby.

When Shareef was arrested in December Fitzgerald couldn’t get the words “acted alone” out fast enough. Then it turns out that Shareef’s singing boosts the case against Abujihaad and Ahmad, pretty substantial evidence that while Shareef may have acted alone in planning his mall attack, he was not a lone actor when it came to his jihadist connections.

How did Shareef ever get hooked up with Abujihaad in the first place? What are the odds that these two just happened to find each other? If they can find each other so easily, why does law enforcement so rarely find them?

The feds did manage to catch Shareef, and now they’ve caught up with Abujihaad. But I have to wonder how many more connections like these are there between American Muslims and international jihadist conspirators that go undetected year in and year out?

Libby’s trial was the last chapter of a colossal waste of time and taxpayer money to punish a crime that wasn’t committed, a conspiracy that never existed, a disclosure that harmed no one, and to protect classified information that wasn’t classified. But Abujihaad’s spying really was a disclosure of classified information, putting real Americans at risk. How odd that Fitzgerald played some role in both.

But watch just how fast this sailor story sinks, which is all I'm trying to say.