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Calling himself a "Muslim soldier," a defiant
Pakistan-born U.S. citizen pleaded guilty Monday to carrying out
the failed Times Square car bombing, saying his attack was the
answer to "the U.S. terrorizing ... Muslim people."


      Wearing a white skull cap, Faisal Shahzad entered the plea in
U.S. District Court in Manhattan just days after a federal grand
jury indicted him on 10 terrorism and weapons counts, some of which
carried mandatory life prison sentences. He pleaded guilty to them
all.


      "One has to understand where I'm coming from," Shahzad calmly
told U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum, who challenged
him repeatedly with questions such as whether he worried about
killing children in Times Square. "I consider myself ... a Muslim
soldier."


      The 30-year-old described his effort to set off a bomb in an SUV
he parked in Times Square on May 1, saying he chose the warm
Saturday night because it would be crowded with people who he could
injure or kill.


      He revealed that he actually packed his vehicle with three
separate bombs, hoping to set off a fertilizer-fueled bomb packed
in a gun cabinet, a set of propane tanks and gas canisters rigged
with fireworks to explode into a fireball.


      Shahzad said he expected the bombs to begin going off after he
lighted a fuse and waited between 2 1/2 minutes and five minutes
for them to erupt.


      "I was waiting to hear a sound but I didn't hear a sound. So I
walked to Grand Central and went home," he said.


      Shahzad dismissed the judge's question about the children by
saying the U.S. didn't care when children were killed in Muslim
countries.


      "It's a war. I am part of the answer to the U.S. terrorizing
the Muslim nations and the Muslim people," he said. "On behalf of
that, I'm revenging the attack. Living in the United States,
Americans only care about their people but they don't care about
the people elsewhere in the world when they die."


      Shahzad made the plea and an accompanying statement as Cedarbaum
began asking him a lengthy series of questions to ensure he
understood his rights.


      Cedarbaum asked Shahzad if he understood some charges carried
mandatory life sentences and that he might spend the rest of his
life in prison. He said he did.


      At one point, she asked him if he was sure he wanted to plead
guilty.


      He said he wanted "to plead guilty and 100 times more" to let
the U.S. know that if it did not get out of Iraq and Afghanistan,
halt drone attacks and stop meddling in Muslim lands, "we will be
attacking U.S."


      Sentencing was scheduled for Oct. 5.
      The Bridgeport, Conn., resident was arrested trying to leave the
country May 3, two days after the bomb failed to ignite near a
Broadway theater.


      Authorities said Shahzad immediately cooperated, delaying his
initial court appearance for two weeks as he spilled details of a
plot meant to sow terror in the world-famous Times Square on a warm
Saturday night when it was packed with thousands of potential
victims.


      The bomb apparently sputtered, emitting smoke that attracted the
attention of an alert street vendor, who notified police, setting
in motion a rapid evacuation of blocks of a city still healing from
the shock of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World
Trade Center.


      According to the indictment issued last week, Shahzad received a
total of $12,000 prior to the attack from the Pakistani Taliban
through cash drop-offs in Massachusetts and Long Island.


      Attorney General Eric Holder said the Pakistani Taliban
"facilitated Faisal Shahzad's attempted attack on American soil."


      Shahzad was accused in the indictment of receiving explosives
training in Waziristan, Pakistan, during a five-week trip to that
country. He returned to the United States in February.


      The indictment said he received $5,000 in cash on Feb. 25 from a
co-conspirator in Pakistan and $7,000 more on April 10, allegedly
sent at the co-conspirator's direction.


      Shahzad, born in Pakistan, moved to the United States when he
was 18.


      Pakistan has arrested at least 11 people since the attempted
attack. An intelligence official has alleged two of them played a
role in the plot. No one has been charged.


      Three men in Massachusetts and Maine suspected of supplying
money to Shahzad have been detained on immigration charges; one was
recently transferred to New York.


      Federal authorities have said they believe money was channeled
through an underground money transfer network known as "hawala,"
but they have said they doubt anyone in the U.S. who provided money
knew what it was for.

Gallery

Calling himself a "Muslim soldier," a defiant
Pakistan-born U.S. citizen pleaded guilty Monday to carrying out
the failed Times Square car bombing, saying his attack was the
answer to "the U.S. terrorizing ... Muslim people."


Times Square car bomb suspect pleads guilty in NYC

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