Dude: Superspy

The WaPo has some nice cloak and dagger news today:

Paul R. Hall, 31, allegedly used his position aboard the USS Benfold and his secret clearance to forward details of the battle group's defensive capabilities and how the ships were going to cross the Strait of Hormuz in April 2001. Federal officials wrote in a criminal complaint that Hall -- who is referred to as Hassan Abujihaad throughout the document -- was contacting the Web site to order jihad videos and supported the terrorist mission of attacking American targets such as the USS Cole.

Let's hear from Mr. Hall himself:

In a recorded conversation, Hall played down his contact with the Web site, according to charging documents.

"I corresponded with an e-mail site," Hall allegedly said. "It wasn't nothin' top secret like these people are saying, you know what I mean? I was just talking about, like the Cole . . . whatever."

This brief statement is enough to convince me that despite his islamutheranist proclivities, he's your average American. Along with the classified material, I'm sure our nefarious mole was sending along messages like "usa is teh suXXXXXXor!!1!!!!111!" and "ubl is teh 60m6!!!11!! lol1!!11!1!"

Now perhaps you've heard the phrase "such a tightass s/he shits diamonds." Kinda describes federal prosecutors right on down to the cufflinks, eh? Feed Mr. Hall's statement to U.S Attorney (and all around good Irishman) Kevin O'Connor and marvel at the product:

"Abujihaad described a recent force protection briefing given aboard his ship, voiced enmity toward America, praised Usama bin Laden and the mujahideen, praised the October 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Cole -- which Abujihaad described as a 'martyrdom operation' -- and advised the members of Azzam Publications that such tactics were working and taking their toll," according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Kevin J. O'Connor's office in the District of Connecticut. The response from the Web site allegedly encouraged Hall's efforts.

Shiny!