In a sane world, reporters would be approaching “moderate” Muslim leaders and asking them to explain how Zazi is wrong on Islamic grounds, and asking them what programs they have implemented to make sure no one in the mosques or Islamic schools misunderstands Islam in the same way he did. But this is not a sane world. “Qns. trio rushed “˜NYC terror” plot “˜to shake Obama,– by Mitchel Maddux and Dan Mangan in the New York Post, April 19 (thanks to Chris):
They wanted to send a bloody message to Barack Obama.
Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan urged three terrorists-in-training from Queens to rush back to the Big Apple in 2008 and launch suicide bombings to “shake” then-President-elect Obama, the group’s admitted mastermind revealed in court yesterday.
One operative “was saying that they need to send a message to the United States, especially to Obama,” testified subway bomb plotter Najibullah Zazi in Brooklyn federal court at the trial of his alleged co-conspirator, Adis Medunjanin.
“He said, “˜When you go [home] you have to do this in less than two months “” build the bomb and do the operation,” ” Zazi said of his handler’s instructions.
“He just wanted to shake Obama” to remove combat troops from Afghanistan, the admitted jihadist said.
In a “martyrdom” video made before leaving Pakistan, Zazi said he mentioned “that woman gang-raped in Iraq.”
“I said, “˜This is for her,” ” Zazi recalled, apparently referring to the 2006 rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl by US soldiers.
Zazi and fellow confessed plotter Zarein Ahmedzay admit to traveling to Pakistan with Medunjanin to be trained by al Qaeda after failing to join the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The three jihad-bent pals and their al Qaeda handlers “discussed [bombing] targets that would damage the US economy.”
“I said if it’s about the economy, I know the stock market [the New York Stock Exchange], I work nearby,” Zazi testified.
And Zazi pointed out that mass transit was ripe for an attack because “transportation is the heart of everything in New York City.” The trio later decided on Grand Central Terminal.
“I knew there was going to be three bombs. Three of us would go to different locations,” he said. “I would make the bombs, and we would all be suicide bombers.”…
Zazi admitted on cross-examination by the defense that he didn’t care if women, children, babies or cops were killed during the attack, saying that he believed at the time it was justified “in jihad.”
But he also expressed remorse, saying, “I believe my crimes are very bad. And if God gives me a second chance, I would appreciate it.”
God might; the American justice system shouldn’t.
Anyway, he once believed that killing women and children was justified “in jihad,” but now he believes that his crimes were “very bad.” Has he come to a new understanding of jihad? Or has he discarded jihad and Islam? Or is he just expressing courtroom remorse? Unfortunately, the reporter doesn’t follow up.