A San Diego sailor is suspected of having passed Navy secrets about ship movements and security weaknesses to one of the jihadis arrested in Britain last Wednesday: Ex-S.D. sailor allegedly linked to terror suspect. (Hat tip: Jihad Watch.)

E-mail messages from the unnamed sailor, sent in late 2000 and 2001 before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, were found in December in computer files belonging to Babar Ahmad, who was detained Wednesday in London, according to the 31-page arrest affidavit.

The computer files contained details about security arrangements and movements of the San Diego-based Constellation carrier battle group, which included the destroyer Benfold, on which the sailor was serving at the time.

Investigators say the messages were sent from a Benfold e-mail account, including one in which the sailor wrote that he was on active duty in the Middle East.

The sailor, who left the Navy several years ago after a four-year enlistment, has been identified, but military and law enforcement officials would not comment on whether he has been located, detained, questioned or charged. …

The e-mail messages extolled the bombing of the destroyer Cole in October 2000 and the actions of Muslim fighters in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya, according to the affidavit documents.

A return message from Ahmad’s computer account “praised the enlistee’s comments and encouraged the enlistee to ‘keep up with the dawah (an Arabic term for missionary work) and the psychological warefare (sic),’” the documents stated.

The sailor, in another e-mail, discussed an on-board briefing about protecting the ship from terrorist attacks like the Cole bombing, according to the documents. In that attack, an explosives-laden boat was brought alongside the destroyer while it was anchored in Aden, Yemen, and blown up. The explosion killed 17 sailors, including one from San Diego.

The same floppy disk contained a separate file describing the composition of the Constellation battle group, the ships’ planned movements and a drawing of the group’s formation for the transit of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage between the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, court documents said.

Under a heading of “weakness,” the computer file stated, “They have nothing to stop a small craft with (rocket-propelled grenade) etc., except their SEALs’ Stinger missiles.”

It also noted the expected date for the battle group’s transit through the strait.

UPDATE at 8/7/04 8:17:14 am:

After reading this, many people will be left with the question, “Why would a US serviceman cooperate with a jihadi in Britain?”

Of course, the answer is that the suspect is a Muslim; the line about “keep up with the dawah” makes that clear, but only if you know that dawah means proselytizing for Islam. Once again mainstream media withholds one of the most important pieces of information in the story, the detail that would answer the question, “WHY?”