Accused New York bomb plotter Najibullah Zazi pled not guilty to a conspiracy charge this morning in federal court.
Newsweek's Christopher Dickey has a pretty compelling account of the frantic days leading up to Zazi's initial arrest in a plot tied to Al Qaeda. It includes details of how alleged co-conspirator Ahmad Afzali may have tipped Zazi off that law enforcement was on his tail by calling Zazi's father. Dickey reports:
"The name of the caller is not the one the cops have been using. The top Intelligence Division detective at the meeting steps out of the room to phone his office and check. Yeah, that's Afzali, he says when he comes back in."
What would prompt a law enforcement informant to warn a terror suspect? Views Afzali expressed in an August sermon offer a few insights. The sermon, or khutbah, emphasizes a pure adherence to faith and chastises those who show up at the mosque only during holidays. Failure to practice the faith more consistently could lead Muslims down the path of Jews and Christians who reformed and modified their religious practices, he warns.
Afzali offers his harshest views for Shia Muslims, whom he calls "the kafir of the kafir of the race." Kafir are non-believers, or infidels. The entire sermon can be heard here. Click on the following links to hear the excerpts described.
"Rabbis destroyed Judaism. The Christian monks destroyed Christianity. And we, the Muslims, slowly and gradually are destroying Islam."
ON MUSLIMS WHO ONLY OBSERVE MUSLIM HOLIDAYS:
"Think about what we're doing to the heart of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Because if he was here present, right here in this masjid or in this locality, what he would say to us? He would tell the sahabahs – Declare jihad on them first."
"How can this be possible, after we have one God, or we have three Gods, in the Trinity, the Son, and the Father and the Holy Ghost, the most confused people on the face of this earth."
During Zazi's arraignment, prosecutors made it clear that Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act intercepts would be a part of their case. We should learn more about Afzali's ideology from those tapes.