Sulaiman Abu Ghayth took the witness stand this morning trying to beat back charges he recruited fighters for al Qaida leading up to and immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

The testimony followed the case put on by the Southern District U.S. Attorney’s office that offered evidence that Abu Ghayth served as a propagandist for the terror group and vowed a “storm of airplanes” would continue after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.