Would-Be NY Bomber Pleads Guilty

Editor's note: Read the superseding information here.

The man at the center of an alleged plot to bomb New York City on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks reportedly has pled guilty and cooperate with federal investigators.

The New York Daily News reports that Najibullah Zazi is admitting plotting "martyrdom operations" in New York subways "draw attention to U.S. military operations against civilians in Afghanistan."

His guilty plea includes a count of providing material support to Al Qaeda, the News reports.

Attorney General Eric Holder has scheduled a late afternoon news conference, where details of Zazi's plea are expected to be released. Zazi, 24, was arrested September 19 and charged with conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction against the United States .

Update: The Department of Justice has issued a news release with the following summary:

As Zazi admitted during today's guilty plea allocution and as reflected in previous government filings, he and others agreed to travel to Afghanistan to join the Taliban and fight against United States and allied forces. In furtherance of their plans, they flew from Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., to Peshawar, Pakistan at the end of August 2008. Although Zazi and others initially intended to fight on behalf of the Taliban, they were recruited by al-Qaeda shortly after arriving in Peshawar. Al-Qaeda personnel transported Zazi and others to the Waziristan region of Pakistan and trained them on several different kinds of weapons. During the training, al-Qaeda leaders asked Zazi and others to return to the United States and conduct suicide operations. They agreed.

Zazi later received additional training from al-Qaeda on constructing the explosives for the planned attacks in the United States. Zazi had discussions with al-Qaeda leaders about target locations, including subway trains in New York City. Zazi took detailed notes during the training, and later emailed a summary of the notes to himself so that he could access them when he returned to the United States. Zazi also provided money and computers to al-Qaeda before he left Pakistan.

Zazi returned to the United States in January 2009 and moved to Denver. Beginning in June 2009, he began reviewing the bomb-making notes from his training and conducting research on where to buy the ingredients for the explosives. Zazi then traveled to New York and met with others to discuss the plan, including the timing of the attack and where to make the explosives.

CNN reports that multiple subway stations were among his targets. The type of explosives matched the size and scale of a smaller assault which could have still killed scores of people, similar to the type assembled in a foiled July 2005 London subway plot.

Zazi reportedly will face a life sentence in the agreement.

How are These Not Considered Lies?

It turns out Rashad Hussain, the new White House envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, does remember blasting the Justice Department for "politically motivated prosecutions" during a 2004 panel discussion.

When reports surfaced last week citing a magazine account of the remarks, Hussain, through a White House spokesman said he couldn't remember making them.

On Friday, Politico provided quotes from a recording of the event to the White House. The recording (excerpts are available here) shows Hussain calling the terror-finance indictment of Sami Al-Arian "truly a sad commentary on our legal system. It is a travesty of justice, not just from the perspective of the allegations that are made against Dr. Al-Arian. Without passing any comment on those specific allegations or the statements [that] have been made against him, the process that has been used has been atrocious."

Al-Arian's trial the following year ended in a mix of acquittals and hung verdicts. In 2006, he pled guilty to providing support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the sentencing judge noted evidence showing Al-Arian served on the terrorist group's governing board.

A statement was issued shortly after the excerpts were received by the White House in which Hussain backtracked, calling his comments "ill conceived." The statement reads:

"As a law student six years ago, I spoke on the topic of civil liberties on a panel during which I responded to comments made about the al-Arian case by Laila al-Arian who was visibly saddened by charges against her father. I made clear at the time that I was not commenting on the allegations themselves. The judicial process has now concluded, and I have full faith in its outcome."

Politico's report indicates the comments regarding the Al-Arian case were among criticisms Hussain leveled against "a half-dozen prominent anti-terrorism cases and several key provisions of the Patriot Act."

That's not the only reversal. The original magazine article, published by the Washington Report for Middle East Affairs (an outlet decidedly supportive of Al-Arian's case), deleted Hussain's comments from the online version of its story at least a year ago. That was five years after the fact. Yet, no one seemed to know why it happened or who asked for the change.

Now, Politico reports, "It was Hussain himself, he said Friday, who contacted the publication to complain about the story." He felt they were offered "without context."

So how does one contact a publication to complain about the context of remarks that one can't remember making? From the statements, it appears Hussain at best misled the public and his bosses in the White House. Washington isn't exactly known for the veracity of its players, but what does it say when an official starts a new position dishonestly?

ABC and Fox News have more here and here. The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report notes that Hussain's ties to the Islamist group have been overshadowed by the focus on the Al-Arian comments.

CAIR's Double Standard on Double Standards

After a Texas man crashed his small plane into an Austin IRS office Thursday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) immediately labeled it an "act of terror." CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad commented that "if a Muslim had carried out the IRS attack, it would have surely been labeled an act of terrorism." He added, "Whenever an individual or group attacks civilians in order to make a political statement that is an act of terror."

It may surprise you to read this here, but CAIR is right on all points. What is baffling is why CAIR so easily labeled this terrorism when it hesitates to use the label in cases where it is even more obvious.

Take CAIR's reaction to the Fort Hood shooting, for example. Immediately after the massacre, details began to emerge indicating that shooter Nidal Malik Hasan felt "Muslims should stand up and fight against the aggressor." A day after the shooting, in an interview on WNYC New York Public Radio, CAIR's Ibrahim Hooper said "We don't know what this guy's motivation was. He could have just snapped from some kind of stress."

It seems like the case of Nidal Hasan matches Awad's definition above perfectly, yet CAIR's press release did not mention that this was an act of terrorism. In fact, CAIR instead chose to call it "wanton and indiscriminate" violence. That ignores Hasan's political grievances as a motivation for his attack, just as Joseph Stack, who ended his suicide note/manifesto with this:

"I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let's try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well."

CAIR also conspicuously avoided the "t"-word in its condemnation of the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight. CAIR preferred to refer to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as only the "bomber" and "perpetrator" in its press release.

CAIR is trying to cast Stack's IRS attack as a double standard in defining terrorism, yet it still is loathe to use the word in attacks involving Muslims. And we haven't even mentioned CAIR's stubborn refusal to call Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist groups.

South Florida Indictment Indirectly Alleges Hizballah Support

Three South Florida men have been arrested, and a fourth man charged, with illegally dealing with a Paraguayan business suspected of being a financial arm of Hizballah.

According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami, the indictment charges the defendants with conspiracy and smuggling charges.

The allegations involve Playstation 2 gaming consoles, games and cameras which were shipped from South Florida to the Galeria Page mall in a town called in Ciudad del Este. Any transaction with Galeria Page has been illegal since December 2006, when the Treasury Department identified it as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity.

Hizballah is never mentioned in the 19-page indictment, but it does cite the Treasury order which targeted alleged the terrorist group's financiers "in the Triple Frontier of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay."

Longtime CAIR Board Member Deported

A former Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) official reportedly was ordered deported Friday after failing to attend an immigration hearing in Dallas.

Nabil Sadoun, CAIR's national vice chairman in 2009, already was in Jordan and his attorney claimed he could not return to the U.S. because his green card had been taken from him.

The case included references to Sadoun's involvement with the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. The charity and five of its former leaders were convicted in 2008 of illegally funneling more than $12 million to Hamas.

Illinois corporate records show that Sadoun, who spent years on the CAIR national board, also helped found the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR) along with Hamas political leader Mousa Abu Marzook. Internal records admitted into evidence in the Holy Land trial showed that the UASR was a part of a Muslim Brotherhood "Palestine Committee" created to benefit Hamas in the U.S.

CAIR was included in a similar document within months of its 1994 creation. In addition, Sadoun is #34 on this internal telephone list of Palestine Committee members.

NBC5 in Dallas quotes spokesman Ibrahim Hooper saying Sadoun left CAIR several months ago.

For more on CAIR's ties to Hamas, click here and here.

Al Qaeda Terrorist Gets Life Sentence from Quebec Judge

Said Namouh, a Moroccan living in Quebec, was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for his role in a plot to bomb targets in Germany and Austria. He was convicted last year on four charges - one count each of participating in a terrorist act, facilitating a terrorist act, conspiracy to detonate an explosive device, and committing extortion for a terrorist group.

Evidence presented at his trial showed that Namouh warned Germany and Austria that they would be attacked if they did not withdraw troops from Afghanistan. Possible targets included the Vienna-based Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, German and Austrian government officials and politicians, and the Euro 2008 soccer tournament.

"The evidence shows his enthusiasm to participate in the project," sentencing Quebec Court Judge Claude Leblond said. "In fact, he was probably destined to be the suicide bomber."

Canadian prosecutor Dominique Dudemaine said Namouh's plot - which included conspirators based in Europe - was thwarted just in time. "When he was arrested…he was in the process of obtaining his visa to leave the country," Dudemaine said. "He was ready to work."

Namouh married a Canadian woman and moved from Morocco to Quebec in 2003. After they divorced three years later, he moved to the Quebec town of Trois-Rivieres, where he started to spend considerable time on jihadist websites.

"Terrorism is in our blood, and with it we will drown the unjust," Namouh said in one Internet chat. In another, which occurred shortly before his arrest in 2007, he said his dream was to die a martyr and to have his son - who is 10 years old and now lives in Morocco – grow up to be a suicide bomber.

Namouh also distributed ransom demands for the kidnappers of a British journalist in Gaza. He worked with the Global Islamic Media Front, an Al Qaeda propaganda organ.

Namouh will be eligible for parole in 10 years. Last month, Zakaria Amara, who masterminded a plot to blow up Toronto-area landmarks, also received a life sentence.

Pakistani Court Denies Bail, Accused American Jihadists Claim Torture

A Pakistani court on Wednesday rejected bail applications for five Americans who allegedly traveled there last year to carry out jihad. The five Northern Virginia men, who were arrested in December on suspicion of planning terrorist attacks, are scheduled to appear in court again March 2.

Supporters of the suspects - Howard University dental student Ramy Zamzam; Eritrean native Ahmed Abdullah Minni; Aman Hassan Yemer, an Ethiopian; Waqar Khan; and Umar Chaudhry - claim they have been tortured in Pakistani custody. On Wednesday, one of the detainees tossed a piece of paper alleging abuse out of the window of their prison van. "We have been threatened to be tortured again if we continued to speak out the truth," the paper read. "Help us. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Prosecutors successfully argued that the men should remain in custody because Pakistan's laws do not allow bail for terror suspects accused of crimes carrying a prison sentence of longer than 10 years. Pakistani authorities said the five "were of the opinion that a jihad must be waged against the infidels for the atrocities committed by them against Muslims around the world."

The five Americans all said in their visa applications that they were going to a wedding in Karachi. But Pakistani police officials have said that the five had exchanged emails for months with a Taliban recruiter, who they contacted when they arrived in Pakistan November 30. The recruiter directed them to board a bus headed for jihadist havens in northwestern Pakistan. One of the men allegedly had a map in his sock and had circled a town in North Waziristan where Al Qaeda is based.

According to Pakistani security officials, the five bonded in jihad by watching YouTube video clips showing Taliban attacks in Afghanistan. Before leaving the United States, they appear to have come to the attention of a radical named Saifullah, who had links to Al Qaeda. Police said that after establishing Internet links with Saifullah, they planned their journey to North Waziristan, where they planned to train with the Taliban.

Read more about the American suspects in Pakistan here.

Abdul Alim Musa's American (Bad) Dream

One of America's most extreme clerics has once again gone on Iranian English-language TV to proclaim the downfall of the United States.

On the latest episode of the television show, "American Dream," Abdul Alim Musa accuses the U.S. of being the "new neocolonial power," broken by its economic policies and on the decline like the Romans and the British. In explaining how U.S. imperialism is causing its decline, Musa stated:

"America is the last great colonial empire, and it wants to manipulate and control the world as it is, and that is causing, that is accelerating its own decline… America has always been on the ascendancy. If you have never had any defeat, you don't know what it looks like to be defeated. America is signing its own death warrant."

Musa also claimed that Osama bin Laden is a puppet creation of the United States. He compared the "manufacturing of Osama bin Laden" to Hitler's burning of the Reichstag:

"When Adolf Hitler was Chancellor in 1933, the Reichstag was burned and after that, he is the Fuhrer now, the absolute power. What is his mandate? To defend the Fatherland. Right. These people that we have in government today are in power, they want to maintain power by spreading fear amongst the people. It is our belief that the government will produce whatever it needs, as it has done historically, to have to stand up and say, 'I am spending all of this money, because of Al Qaeda.' Al Qaeda is a scapegoat."

Musa, who has admitted his previous criminal offenses as a drug dealer, further noted his contempt for the American judicial system which convicted him:

"The federal court and the lawyers there are the most criminal organization in the world. The federal courts of the United States!"

Musa's speeches present a reserved logic for international fanatics seeking to prove their conspiracy theories through an American Imam. Musa is also a magnet who provides justification for extremism among young Muslim converts, who are struggling for a place in America's changing cultural background.

Musa's growing popularity among young Muslims, including appearances on several campuses and at the Muslim Student Association – Persian Speaking Group, raises questions about the effect that his "theories" might have on young people. More information about Imam Musa can be found here and here.

Dar Al-Hijrah Hosts Fundraiser for Convicted Member of "Virginia Jihad" Cell

The Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va. hosted a fundraiser Saturday to finance legal appeals of Sabri Benkahla, who is currently serving a 10-year federal prison sentence for obstruction of justice, perjury before a grand jury, and making false official statements to the FBI in the course of an investigation into the Virginia Jihad terror cell.

Benkahla was granted statutory immunity for his testimony before a grand jury. Under the terms of his immunity agreement, he submitted to interviews with the FBI and testified in August and November 2004 in front of a federal grand jury in Alexandria. He was asked about his participation in jihadist training camps or combat in Afghanistan or Pakistan during the summer of 1999, prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia said following his criminal conviction.

Benkahla "was convicted of making materially false statements both in his grand jury appearances in 2004, as well as to the FBI in 2004. These false statements included his denial of his involvement with an overseas jihad training camp in 1999, as well as his asserted lack of knowledge about individuals with whom he was in contact," the U.S. Attorney's Office added.

In 2004, the FBI tried "to question Benkahla about his contacts with Ibrahim Buisir of Ireland, and Manaf Kasmuri of Malaysia, both of whom are designated by the United States as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, as well as those with Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, his friend and fellow student at the Islamic University of Medina, until both were arrested by Saudi authorities in June 2003. Further, the trial revealed that the grand jury and FBI to question Benkahla about his contacts with an individual suspected of being Malki al-Tunisi, a facilitator for the al-Zarqawi terrorist network in Iraq."

Benkahla appealed the verdict with the support of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim American Society (MAS). But in June 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the 4^th Circuit affirmed his conviction. U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) has vouched for Benkahla's character and the ACLU has protested his prison conditions.

Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy writes that Dar al-Hijrah has "impeccable credentials" as a site to hold a fundraiser for a jailed jihadist. Anwar al-Awlaki, who had links to Nidal Malik Hasan and Umar Farouk Abdulmutullab, served as imam there from 2001-02. During his tenure, Awlaki defended the Taliban movement.

The Investigative Project on Terrorism has reported that Johari Abdul Malik, who has taken the lead in defending Dar al-Hijrah and Awlaki, has called for attacks on Israeli infrastructure to show displeasure with Israeli treatment of Palestinians. In a November 2004 sermon, the head imam at Dar Al-Hijrah, Shaker Elsayed, declared support for terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.

In addition to Abu Ali, currently serving a life sentence for plotting to murder President George W. Bush, other terrorists who attended Dar al-Hijrah have included Abdurrahman Alamoudi, currently serving a 23-year federal prison sentence for crimes including participation in a plot by Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Another was senior Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouk. Two of the 9/11 hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Hani Hanjour were worshipping at Dar Al-Hijrah when they met Eyad al Rababah after services. According to the 9/11 Commission report, al Rababah helped them find an apartment. He was subsequently deported to Jordan after being convicted in a fraudulent driver's license scheme. Read more here.

No Tenure for You, Al-Marayati

Free speech is a sacred right in America. But when speech is used to intimidate, or to stop another person from exercising that right, responsible parties look for ways to assure all sides may be heard and respected.

That's the point emerging from the administration at the University of California-Irvine (UCI) in the wake of the February 8 shout-down of Israeli ambassador Michael Oren during his speech on campus.

Oren's remarks were interrupted no less than 10 times by student demonstrators, whose actions appeared to have been guided by the campus Muslim Students Union (MSU).

Having made their point – they don't like Israel, its policies or its representatives – the students persisted in trying to stop Oren from being heard. Their shouting was described as "an orchestrated campaign in which he said students were assigned a position and statement to read in order to disrupt the ambassador's speech." Police were called and 11 students, including MSU's president, were arrested.

Islamist organizations have spent the past week turning the students into free speech martyrs. They're called the "Irvine 11."

In a column published Monday on the Huffington Post, Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) Executive Director Salam Al Marayati argued the students' political views trumped their behavior:

"The protest of Ambassador Oren's speech did not occur within a vacuum, but rather as a reaction to a string of numerous attempts to stigmatize Muslim students of UCI and squelch their free speech." Additionally, "The university needs to acknowledge the history of institutional harassment of Muslim students as they engage in campus activism."

Marayati's column followed a letter MPAC sent to UCI administrators which asks why the students were arrested instead of just ejected. It ironically demanded "that universities be preserved as spaces for free and open discourse."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the National Lawyer's Guild sent in their own letter protesting the students' arrests. Silencing the visiting ambassador is acceptable because it "expressed the gravity of the charges leveled against Israeli policies," the letter said.

Mahdi Bray, executive director of Muslim American Society Freedom (MASF) called the 11 "students of conscience who have taken a principled stand on human rights and the sanctity of all life, non violent protest is as American as apple pie."

UCI officials should be credited for trying to teach the students and their defenders about the difference between exercising and stifling free speech. The day after the event, UCI Chancellor Michael Drake issued a statement on his website:

"This behavior is intolerable. Freedom of speech is among the most fundamental, and among the most cherished of the bedrock values our nation is built upon. A great university depends on the free exchange of ideas. This is non-negotiable. Those who attempt to suppress the rights of others violate core principles that are the foundation of any learning community. We cannot and do not allow such behavior."

UCI School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky stated, "You have the right – if you disagree with me – to go outside and perform your protest. But you don't get the right to come in when I'm talking and shout me down. Otherwise people can always silence a speaker by heckler's veto, and Babel results."

A website called "Stand with The Eleven" was created to support the arrested students, and includes their personal statements about the incident. Their language indicates that the intention was to silence the ambassador, as Osama Shabaik writes:

"The UCI bias towards favoring the Israeli regime has been made reinforced by this latest saga. It is a shame that the university would allow a man like Oren to speak on their campus, when the only stage he deserves is in front of the International Criminal Court."

That's a laughable assertion. UCI has repeatedly been the subject of complaints, and even a Department of Education review to determine whether the MSU fuels a hostile environment on campus (See here and here).

It's not clear whether the 11 students will be charged - the case has been submitted to the Orange County district attorney. But it would be nice if the self-anointed voices of moderation learned that if a university can allow speech like this or this on campus, it should hear from a foreign diplomat too, even if it's someone they don't like.

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