Terror suspect had 9 pages of notes on bomb building

NY Times:

The central figure in what authorities describe as a widening investigation into a possible plot to detonate explosives in the United States had been trained in weapons and explosives in Pakistan, and according to court papers released Sunday, had made nine pages of handwritten notes on how to make and handle bombs.

The court papers, released after the arrests in Colorado of Najibullah Zazi and his father, as well as that of an imam in Queens, showed that during a search in New York of the younger Mr. Zazi’s rental car on Sept. 11, agents found a laptop computer containing an image of the notes, which, according to an affidavit, “contain formulations and instructions regarding the manufacture and handling of initiating explosives, main explosives charges, explosives detonators and components of a fusing system.”

The affidavits also show that in interviews with the F.B.I., Mr. Zazi, 24, told agents that during a 2008 trip to Pakistan, he attended courses and received instruction on weapons and explosives at a Qaeda training camp in a tribal area.

The arrests late Saturday indicated that the case was rapidly accelerating and provided for the first time — in a sometimes confusing week of events — an explanation of why authorities were investigating the men, even as it shed little light about the alleged plot still under investigation in the United States, Pakistan and elsewhere.

“It is important to note that we have no specific information regarding the timing, location or target of any planned attack,” David Kris, assistant attorney general for national security, said early Sunday morning.

Veteran counterterrorism officials in Washington, New York and Denver said they were convinced the plot was potentially serious, based largely on their emerging suspicions about Mr. Zazi, his training in explosives, his travel to Pakistan tribal areas where Al Qaeda is influential and the apparent ease of his movements within the United States.

...

In a sense, the case reflects the tension that has grown since the September 2001 attacks between intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Some intelligence officials are prepared to disrupt a group as soon as its activities are discovered, while more case-oriented law enforcement agencies seek to surreptitiously track or infiltrate a suspect group until there is compelling evidence to charge the plotters with a crime.

In this case, Mr. Zazi and his confederates were deterred before any plot had a chance to take shape and before investigators were able to clearly understand or describe what the men were planning. That left prosecutors to charge the three men with proxy offenses of making false statements rather than crimes directly involving terrorism.

In part, it appears that authorities lost their ability to conduct covert surveillance of Mr. Zazi because he and others learned of the inquiry from their associates. In addition, some officials said that they then moved quickly, fearing that Mr. Zazi’s plans might have been more advanced than they realized at the same time counterterrorism officials in New York were preparing for major events like this week’s meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, to be attended by President Obama and other world leaders.

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It si interesting that they actually discussed the lawfare problem in bringing cases against people who are at war with us. There would probably have been even a bigger problem if the 9-11 terrorist had been caught before they got on the planes. At that time we did not have the Patriot Act to help gather the evidence. Some Democrats would like to remove these tools now. The CAIR representative quoted in the article seemed more interested in "civil rights" than in stopping the mass murder for Allah operations.

These guys should be going to Gitmo for the duration of this war instead of some short prison sentence, that will release them to rejoin the war.