“This indictment alleges that an individual living here in the United States, enjoying all the freedoms that our society has to offer, was secretly plotting to support murder and terror being perpetrated by violent jihadists overseas.”
~Attorney General John Ashcroft

A federal grand jury in Florida has indicted two Middle Eastern Islamic men of providing material support to terrorist groups overseas. The two were identified as Adham Amin Hassoun, a Palestinian from Broward County, Florida who recruited potential terrorists and raised money inside the United States for groups engaged in terrorist activities in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Kosovo and Somalia, and Mohamed Hesham Youssef, who is currently in custody in Egypt (and believed to be Egyptian) on terrorism charges.

Hassoun is in custody on charges of perjury for previously lying about his activities, has also been identified as belonging to Al-Gama Al-Islamiyya, a terrorist group connected to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. From a base in Broward County, Fla., Hassoun allegedly recruited people in the United States for Islamic jihad, or holy war, in Afghanistan, Somalia, Chechnya and Kosovo.

The 10-count indictment returned in Miami also mentions an unnamed, unindicted co-conspirator who is a U.S. citizen. Although Ashcroft declined to comment on the identity of the coconspirator, the individual is believed to be former Chicago gang member and Muslim convert Jose Padilla - aka Abdullah Al Muhajir, a U.S. citizen being held by the Department of Defense as an enemy combatant. Padilla was identified as one of Hassoun’s recruits, as was Youssef. Hassoun and Youssef reportedly plotted to assist Padilla in his plans to assemble and detonate a “dirty bomb” on US soil. Phone conversations intercepted through electronic surveillance showed that Hassoun was also providing financial support and travel guidance to Youssef and Padilla in 1999.

The indictment also identifies at least 24 checks written between 1994 and 2001 by Hassoun totaling over $53,000 to “charities” such as the Holy Land Foundation and the Global Relief Foundation for the purpose of supporting terrorist activities.

Authorities have detailed Jose Padilla’s terrorist plans to blow up apartment buildings inside the United States with natural gas. Padilla attended the al Qaeda’s al Farouq training camp from September to October 2000.

Remember previously I wrote here that Padilla was held as an “enemy combatant”–and the term “enemy combatant” appears nowhere in US criminal law, international law, or the law of war. In the Bush administration, all it takes to be named an enemy combatant is the affidavit of a Pentagon employee, who is not required to provide the rationale for his or her decision, even to a federal judge. Enemy combatants are denied counsel and contact with family members. I am certain that we could have gone after Padilla by pursuing due process. There is enough evidence, I am sure, to convict.