By Austin B. Tucker
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Christopher Paul was born and raised in Ohio. Why does an American citizen from the heartland of America hate America? In 1990, while a young man in his mid-20s, he began to travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan to meet members of al-Qaida terrorist training camps. Did he get his hatred from those camps? Or did he go to those camps because he already hated America?
Soon he was helping teach fellow Muslim extremists how to build bombs and set them to kill Americans in the United States and in Europe. Officially he is a terrorist. His activities did not escape the notice of U.S. intelligence. They noticed when he traveled in 1999 to Germany to train members of a radical Muslim group to kill Americans vacationing at resorts overseas.
Last year they arrested Christopher Paul and indicted him on charges of providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to do so. In June Paul pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction—specifically bombs in terrorist attacks. The 43-year-old American faces a maximum of life in prison. His attorneys are working now on a deal with the prosecutor and U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost that calls for a 20-year term. No sentencing date has been set, and still no one answers the question why Christopher Paul hates America. (From AP news story, The Times of Shreveport/ Bossier, Wed. June 4, 2008, 11A.)