A terrorist in the Navy?

A former Navy sailor was arrested on terrorism charges Wednesday for alleging mishandling classified information that ended up in the hands of a suspected terrorism financier.

Hassan Abujihaad, 31, of Phoenix, was arrested in a case that began in Connecticut and has stretched across the country and into Europe and the Middle East.

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

Here’s where it gets really interesting. It looks like Abujihaad is part of a larger conspiracy also involving Derrick Shareef, the “Chicago Jihadi” who was busted while plotting a grenade attack on a mall:

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.

It’s also interesting to note that the Washington Times named Abujihaad as a potential threat back in 2004:

According to an affidavit in the case, Mr. Ahmad communicated with a U.S. Navy enlistee aboard the USS Benfold, a guided missile destroyer, who was said to be “sympathetic to al Qaeda causes.” The sailor tentatively has been identified as Hassan Abujihaad, who served aboard the Benfold in 2000 and 2001.

So what took so long to bust him?

BENZION ADDS–Hello?! Hello, McFly!!!

Dude starts off with the name “Paul R. Hall,” converts to Islam, and takes the name “Hassan Abujihaad.”

As you all no doubt recall from elementary-school Arabic class, “Abu” means “father.”

Guy changed his name to “Hassan, Father of Jihad.”

My state senator, Dan Patrick, has introduced a package of governmental-reform bills in the Texas Senate. Here’s a rundown of the measures:

SB 630/SJR 26: Would establish a Public Integrity Unit at the Texas Attorney General’s office.

“If the state government wants to only fund one Public Integrity Unit, as they currently do, then they should do so at a statewide elected office; the Texas Attorney General - not the Travis County DA,” Senator Patrick remarked. “Otherwise we should spread the funds out to each District Attorney who prosecutes violations of the public trust,” Senator Patrick added.

SB 1190/SJR 41: Creates a government spending commission to be patterned after President Ronald Reagan’s Grace Commission.

“We have heard a lot about tax commissions, but nothing about a spending commission. Texans can’t possibly expect the Legislature to find ways to cut the growth of government when we only have six months every two years to go over more than $150 Billion in state spending. President Reagan described my vision of the Texas Spending Commission best when he described his Grace Commission’s charge ‘to work like tireless bloodhounds to root out government inefficiency and waste of tax dollars,’” Senator Patrick remarked.

SB 1191: Would require candidates and office holders to report to the Ethics Commission by the 10th day, any contribution that exceeds $2,000 during the semi-annual reporting period.

“I believe in as much disclosure of the source of our political contributions. In fact, I voluntarily disclose my major contributions on my campaign website within days of receiving the donation. We need more, not less sunshine in our campaign finance laws,” Senator Patrick remarked.

SB 1193: This bill would create a cooling off period for legislators who seek to become lobbyists immediately prior to leaving office.

“I want to slow down the revolving door of legislators turned lobbyists. And I think the public would be outraged to learn we have lobbyists who ‘cashed out’ after serving just one term in the Legislature,” Senator Patrick offered.

SB 1194: Would end legislative pensions as of January 1, 2008.

“I campaigned on eliminating legislative pensions. Voters should expect their elected officials to serve the people, not serve for pensions,” said Senator Patrick.

SB 1197: This bill would still allow for an appointment to fill a vacancy [in county elected offices], but would call an election at the next uniform election date. In the Harris County example, the voters would have a voice much earlier than they do under current law.

“The situation in Harris County is very unfortunate. As elected officials, we have a bond with the voters and if given their trust we should do everything we can to live up to our obligations. Leaving office for health or family reasons is understandable. Leaving 90 days after your election for financial gain is reprehensible. If the will of the voters is supplanted by the will of an elected official, then we should allow the voters to make their voice heard as soon as practical,” Senator Patrick remarked.

SB 1200: Concerns the closing of instant games sold by the Texas Lottery. The legislation if passed, would require the Texas Lottery to close all games of chance once the top prizes have been claimed.

“I think people were outraged to learn recently that some scratch off games were still being sold months after the advertised prizes were no longer attainable. And even more disturbing were the press reports that some officials were fine with the arrangement because people were still buying those tickets. This is a betrayal of the public’s trust and I look forward to correcting it,” Senator Patrick added.

While the above bills were the highlights of the Senator’s ethics and government reform legislative agenda, he also filed the following bills on the same general subject: SB 1192 (prohibiting certain legislator meals paid for by lobbyists), SB 1195 (prohibiting the use of campaign funds to rent a personal residence or to purchase gifts for other legislators) and SB 1199 (prohibiting certain meals provided to legislative employees paid for by lobbyists).

Click on a bill number to see the text, status and legislative history of the bill.

In an effort to stop a fast spreading wildfire, U.S. Border Patrol agents crossed the sacred border of Mexico on Monday. And what does the Mexican government do? Whines about it.

“The Foreign Relations Department has expressed to the U.S. Embassy via a diplomatic note, its rejection of the incursion,” the Mexican government’s news release said.

Right. This is the same government that passed out maps to its citizens to keep them safe while illegally crossing the U.S. border. I have a suggestion for our State Department. Immediately dispatch a diplomatic note to the Mexican Embassy rejecting the daily crossing of our border by Mexican nationals and others illegally in Mexico . Yeah, that’ll work.

The Chon has an editorial out on the conviction of Scooter Libby of lying to FBI investigators and perjury. Regrettably, the entire editorial proceeds from a very stupid and very false assumption:

On the 10th day of deliberations, the federal jury weighing the charges against I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby rendered the only verdict that matched the evidence.

Numerous news media figures and government officials testified that Libby divulged the identity of covert CIA employee Valerie Plame, apparently to discredit her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

[...]

Although special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald said in his closing argument that the case created “a cloud over the vice presidency,” after the verdict he told reporters he had no plans to take the probe further. Apparently the investigation will end with no one being charged with divulging the identity of a covert government agent. Once again, the cover-up brings the conviction, not the shameful behavior that preceded it.

The evidence? According to the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald: “I am not speaking [in this indictment] to whether or not Valerie Wilson was covert . . . And we have not made any allegation that Mr. Libby knowingly or intentionally outed a covert agent.” Accordingly, the Chron’s talk of there being “evidence” of Plame’s covert status is nonsesne.

Secondly, for a convicting for “outing” a covert agent, the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act requires that an agent have “served outside the United States” in the past five years and that the agency take affirmative steps to conceal their identity. Finally, it requires knowledge that the agent is, in fact, covert.

At the time of her supposed “outing,” Plame was an analyst tied to a desk in Washington. There has been conflicting information as to whether she worked on overseas assignments during the previous five years, and in any event, there were no plans to ever use her overseas again. By all accounts, Plame was very willing to disclose her own identity — to her friends, and to her future husband, Joe Wilson, after a few dates. Her status was an open secret of the first order. And as for efforts to conceal her identity, they were very minimal.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Plame had not been based overseas for more than five years, although she had performed overseas missions (this depends, I suppose, on one’s parsing of a complex statute). Fred Rustmann, a former CIA covert agent who claimed that he supervised Mrs. Plame early in her career, took issue with referring to Plame as “covert,” noting that “[s]he made no bones about the fact that she was an agency employee and her husband was a diplomat.” If Libby or anyone else in the Bush Administration was compromising her identity, you can’t say that she didn’t do so first.

In any event, based on Plame’s current status, it was difficult to tell whether or not she was “covert,” and thus it would be nearly impossible to prove that the act was done “knowingly.” Both Plame and the CIA were playing it very fast as loose with her identity if they truly wanted it protected. Moreover, given the lack of clarity in the statute (does the language “served outside the United States” require an overseas assignment, or just a few overseas missions?) I don’t see how you could convict anyone of “outing” Valarie Plame.

Just my two cents.

Can you imagine what this lady’s daughter is going to find in Google’s memory banks one day?

Jennifer Raper, 45, of Charlestown, wants Planned Parenthood, the doctor who performed the abortion at the Boston clinic, and another physician who allegedly failed to detect her pregnancy in July 2004 to pay damages, including the cost of rearing Raper’s 2-year-old daughter.

For all you sympathizers of abortions out there, notice that this wasn’t some spring chicken that got knocked up. This was a 42 year old woman that decided to abort her child for financial reasons. I’ll grant that she might not be the brightest bulb in the package based upon this:

It was only when Raper went to the New England Medical Center emergency room for treatment of pelvic pain on Sept. 26 that she discovered she was still pregnant, the suit said. She gave birth Dec. 7 at the medical center.

You would think that she would have noticed that something was happening down there a wee bit earlier. But that’s okay. I hope she wins. I hope that she is awarded so much money that it shuts Planned Abortions Parenthood down. Hey, a guy can dream, right?

Click pic for more signs.

Concealed Handgun License Training– New licenses $100 (classes approximately every other week), recertification $80 (done weekly). Price includes all range fee, fingerprinting, notary work and photographs. Basic training available for persons who want a license but have little or no experience with a firearm. Ask about special group classes. Contact Austin Arrington 281-948-8373.

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