(08-06) 17:02 PDT SAN DIEGO (AP) --
A former sailor aboard a San Diego-based ship allegedly praised a deadly terror attack on a U.S. destroyer and communicated with a British man arrested on suspicion of having terrorist ties, according to a court document unsealed Friday.
The sailor on the USS Benfold, whose name has not been released, allegedly sympathized with the jihad cause and sent e-mails to anti-Western Web sites run by Babar Ahmad. British police arrested Ahmad, 30, earlier this week on a U.S. extradition warrant charging that he used the Internet to help Taliban fighters recruit and raise money.
The USS Benfold left San Diego in March 2000 and returned shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. It was part of a battle group that included a second destroyer, the aircraft carrier USS Constellation, two nuclear submarines, two frigates, a cruiser and a support ship.
On Friday, the ship was docked at a San Diego Navy base.
E-mails the former sailor allegedly wrote Ahmad were disclosed in a 33-page arrest warrant affidavit unsealed Friday in Connecticut, where Ahmad was charged with providing material support to terrorists. The court papers also said Ahmad possessed a classified U.S. Navy document, though authorities have not accused the sailor of providing him that document.
A U.S. Navy spokesman could not comment on the former sailor's name or whereabouts. Lt. Ohene Gyapong said the sailor was no longer in the Navy and wasn't in custody, though federal prosecutor Kevin O'Connor said the Navy has identified him "and is taking appropriate precautions."
In a 2001 e-mail, the sailor made anti-American remarks and praised the explosives-packed small-boat attack on the destroyer USS Cole that killed 17 sailors in Yemen the year before.
The sailor praised the "men who have brought honor ... in the lands of jihad: Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, etc."
British police found a classified Navy document in 2003 on a password-protected floppy disk in Ahmad's parents' house in London, according to the court document. The information in the Navy document was classified at the time but the Navy has confirmed its legitimacy, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The document described the movements in the Persian Gulf of the nine-ship battle group that included the USS Benfold, as well as the group's vulnerabilities.
"Weakness: They have nothing to stop a small craft with RPG etc., except their Seals' stinger missiles," the affidavit quotes the document as stating.
It concluded: "Please destroy message."
The document, written in 2001, notes that the USS Benfold and its battle group were enforcing sanctions against Iraq and conducting operations against Afghanistan and al-Qaida.
It noted that the ships were to pass through the Persian Gulf's Straits of Hormuz the night of April 29, 2001 under a communications blackout, and included a drawing of the battle group's formation. The ships were not attacked.
Unbelievable. Have not seen such treason since Peter Jennings and ABC
gave terrorists instructions on how to take down American
choppers on the first evening of the ground war.
ABC's plan was successful within hours.
Isn't this just ducky? Where is 7Seas when you need em'?