Zazi pleads guilty in NY al Qaeda bomb plot

NY Times:

The Afghan immigrant at the center of what the authorities described as one of the most serious threats to the United States since 9/11 pleaded guilty Monday to terrorism charges in what he said was a Qaeda plot to detonate a bomb in the New York subway.

The man, Najibullah Zazi, admitted that he came to New York last year near the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks to kill himself and others on the subway using a homemade bomb. He characterized the plot as a “martyrdom operation” that he was just days away from executing when he said he realized he was under government surveillance.

Mr. Zazi, 25, pleaded guilty in United States District Court in Brooklyn to charges that included conspiracies to use weapons of mass destruction and to commit murder in a foreign country, and to provide material support for a terrorist organization. He faces a possible life term when he is sentenced on June 25.

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Throughout the 45-minute proceeding on Monday, Mr. Zazi seemed unaffected by his circumstances, even smiling on several occasions. When he spoke, he did so in an unapologetic, matter-of-fact manner, explaining that he was driven to terrorism by his concerns about the United States’ actions in Afghanistan.

In recent weeks, Mr. Zazi — who was born in Afghanistan, raised in Pakistan and later attended high school in Queens — had begun providing information to prosecutors as part of the initial stages of an agreement that led to his guilty plea on Monday, according to two people with knowledge of the case.

There have been a number of additional arrests in the case, including his father, his uncle and two of his classmates at Flushing High School. Mr. Zazi agreed to cooperate in part out of concern that a widening inquiry would result in more charges against his family members, including his mother, said one person involved in the case. The 10-page plea agreement was sealed by Judge Raymond J. Dearie, but the arrangement suggested that prosecutors believe Mr. Zazi can be a valuable source of information.

On its own, though, the guilty plea marks the successful prosecution of a terrorist in an advanced plot in which explosive materials similar to those used in the 2005 London subway and bus attacks were actually brought into New York. In some other terror cases, plotters appeared to lack the materials or knowledge to make good on their threats.

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I think the evidence against him was overwhelming and he decided to make the best of a bad situation. While he is implicating some who aided and abetted his operation in this country, it does not sound like any indictments of terrorist in Pakistan and Afghanistan is contemplated. They probably would be as worthless as the indictments of bin Laden in the late 90s.