| Home Front: WoT |
| Would-be Boomer Befuddled by Bay Ridge Osama |
| 2006-01-25 |
| "It had originally been your plan to put a bomb in the 34th Street subway station?" Brooklyn Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Harrison asked Pakistani-born defendant Shahawar Matin Siraj in federal court. "Yes, that's correct," Siraj, 23, sniffed nonchalantly. The suspect then gave similar responses to a string of questions about his alleged mastermind role in the potentially devastating terror scheme. Siraj was busted in August 2004, just days before the Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden, above the hub for the transit system around Herald Square. Siraj also allegedly devised an elaborate scheme to launch bloody attacks on two other Manhattan subway stations, the Verrazano Bridge, Staten Island police station houses and a jail "to teach these bastards a good lesson," according to court papers. Siraj and an alleged accomplice were reportedly incensed over the U.S. prisoner-abuse scandal at the now-infamous Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq. Thank you, media. The suspect who had been living as an illegal alien in Jackson Heights, Queens, at the time proclaimed he was "ready for jihad," the papers said. The alleged fiend was foiled after a confidential informant identified by Siraj's lawyer as an Egyptian man named Osama Doaudi caught Siraj and his accomplice, James El Shafay, on video and audiotape discussing the meticulous plot. Finally, an Osama we can like. Doaudi, working for the feds, first approached Siraj at his uncle's Islamic bookstore in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, sometime in 2004, authorities said. Bay Ridge? Used to be heavily Scandanavian. My folks were born there. My grandparents are now spinning in their graves. A video even catches the trio driving by Penn Station on a reconnaissance mission and talking about what type of backpacks they should use to carry bombs, according to Siraj's lawyer, Martin Stolar. Stolar argued that the case was clearly based on entrapment. Siraj claimed that after his bust, a federal agent told him he would be meeting with a "prosecutor" and "said they would help you if you told the truth. "I never used this word 'prosecutor' before," Siraj insisted. "I thought he was my lawyer. That's why I speak to him. I was shocked, stressed, confusion." Well, it's not the government's fault if you don't know what "prosecutor" means. Ignorance of the law, etc. Interesting, though. What he's pretty much saying is, "I spilled everything about the plot because I thought the guy was my public defender, and they'd never be able to use it against me." Ooops! |
| Link |
| Home Front: WoT | |||
| 8 Targets: ALL OF GOTHAM IN CROSS HAIRS | |||
| 2004-08-29 | |||
Two men charged with plotting to blow up the Herald Square subway station were also planning a "holy war" rampage against seven other crucial targets around the city — including at least two other stations, three police precincts and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, officials said yesterday. "They had the intention to cause damage, to kill people," said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. But "they did not immediately have the means to do it."
| |||
| Link |
| Home Front: WoT |
| 2 arrested in NYC bomb plot |
| 2004-08-28 |
| A U.S. citizen and a Pakistani national were arrested in an alleged plot to bomb a subway station in midtown Manhattan, and possibly other locations around the city, police said Saturday. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the men were not believed to be connected to al-Qaida or any other international terrorist organization, although he said they expressed hatred for America. The men had been under police surveillance and had discussed placing explosives at the Herald Square subway station and stations at 42nd and 59th streets, Kelly said. The men never obtained explosives, he said. "It was clear that they had the intention to cause damage, to kill people," Kelly said. "They did not immediately have the means to do it." He identified the men as Shahawar Matin Siraj, 21, a Pakistani living in Queens, and James El Shafay, 19, a U.S. citizen living on Staten Island. Kelly said the men visited the Herald Square 34th Street station one block from Madison Square Garden, the site of next week's Republican National Convention on Aug. 21. The men were being charged with conspiracy to blow up the station, which is central to a large commercial district, including Macy's flagship department store. They were to be arraigned Saturday in federal court. The men also scouted three police stations on Staten Island and a jail there, Kelly said. They drew maps of those sites and a map of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which connects Brooklyn to Staten Island, he said. Though there was no clear tie to the convention, authorities moved to arrest the two men before the convention began, two law-enforcement sources told The Associated Press. "Their motive was generally hatred for America," Kelly said. He said one of the men had also made anti-Semitic statements. |
| Link |
| Home Front: WoT |
| Two Stupid Young Moslems Arrested in Plot to Bomb NY Subway |
| 2004-08-28 |
| From AOL News A U.S. citizen and a Pakistani national were arrested in an alleged plot to bomb a subway station in midtown Manhattan, and possibly other locations around the city, police said Saturday. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the men were not believed to be connected to al-Qaida or any other international terrorist organization, although he said they expressed hatred for America. The men had been under police surveillance and had discussed placing explosives at the Herald Square subway station and stations at 42nd and 59th streets, Kelly said. The men never obtained explosives, he said. "It was clear that they had the intention to cause damage, to kill people," Kelly said. "They did not immediately have the means to do it." He identified the men as Shahawar Matin Siraj, 21, a Pakistani living in Queens, and James El Shafay, 19, a U.S. citizen living on Staten Island. Kelly said the men visited the Herald Square 34th Street station - one block from Madison Square Garden, the site of next week's Republican National Convention - on Aug. 21. The men were being charged with conspiracy to blow up the station, which is central to a large commercial district, including Macy's flagship department store. They were to be arraigned Saturday in federal court. ... "Their motive was generally hatred for America," Kelly said. He said one of the men had also made anti-Semitic statements. |
| Link |