An Ohio man was indicted today by a federal grand jury on “charges of joining al Qaeda and conspiring to bomb European tourist resorts and U.S. government facilities and military bases overseas.”

“The indictment of Christopher Paul paints a disturbing picture of an American who traveled overseas to train as a violent jihadist, joined the ranks of al Qaeda and provided military instruction and support to radical cohorts both here and abroad,” Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein said.

Paul was arrested yesterday outside of his apartment after a four year investigation.

The indictment says that Mr. Paul traveled to Germany about April 1999 to train co-conspirators to use explosives to attack European and U.S. targets, including government buildings and vacation spots frequented by American tourists.

It does not name specific resorts or buildings that might have been targeted but gives U.S. embassies, military bases and consular premises in Europe as examples.

Prosecutors claim Mr. Paul later sent a wire transfer of $1,760 from a financial institution in the United States to a purported co-conspirator in Germany.

A fax machine in his home contained names, phone numbers and contact information for key al Qaeda leadership and associates, according to the indictment.

Mr. Paul also is accused of storing material at his father’s house in Columbus, including a book on improvised land mines, money from countries in the Middle East and a letter to his parents explaining that he would be “on the front lines,” according to the indictment . . .

Mr. Paul was born Paul Kenyatta Laws. He legally changed his name to Abdulmalek Kenyatta in 1989, then to Christopher Paul in 1994, according to the indictment.

After finishing his al Qaeda training in the early 1990s, he returned to Columbus to teach martial arts at a mosque, the indictment said.

Two other Columbus men have been charged in federal investigators’ terrorism investigation. Iyman Faris was sentenced in 2003 to 20 years in prison for a plot to topple the Brooklyn Bridge. Nuradin Abdi, accused of plotting to blow up a Columbus-area shopping mall, is awaiting trial on charges including conspiring to aid terrorists.

If Paul, Faris and Abdi are convicted, what is in Columbus that encourages people to go jihadi?  Surely it’s not the water.