Suspected Spy Remains a Vexing Mystery

"During a later deployment to a U.S. Army base near Najaf, Iraq, the defendant photographed a classified battle map identifying U.S. troop routes used in August 2004 during the bloody battle of Najaf, where the U.S. and Iraqi security forces sustained serious casualties," the government said.

The photographs and other classified material were removed from the suspect's Brooklyn apartment during a search by a joint terrorism task force search in September 2005. One of the documents was so sensitive, the government declined to even describe it in court records.

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Investigators suspect Nour may have been spying for insurgents. The Justice Department, in a Feb. 7, 2007, pre-trial memorandum, noted that Nour "had an opportunity to provide stolen classified information to anti-coalition forces, because the defendant was in contact with numerous foreign nationals after the defendant's deployment at TQ [Al Taqaddum Airbase] ended."

"Specifically, the defendant was in unauthorized phone and e-mail contact with a former United States Army source in Iraq known as 'Kifah,'" the memorandum said. "In addition, the defendant was in e-mail contact with Sunni sheiks in the Sunni Triangle -- individuals from whom the defendant admitted taking bribes."

The question remains: Who is Nour? It is unknown if he was working for a foreign adversary, insurgents or a terrorist group. But regardless of his affiliation, government officials said he has a great hatred for the United States.

A search of his computer yielded a number of photographs, including a picture of the Empire State Building with a bull's-eye on it, and a mock shipping company ad depicting a 9/11 plane headed toward a World Trade Center tower with the words "We fly things straight to your office."