Faisal Shahzad, accused of attempting to bomb Times Square, has pleaded guilty to all ten counts for which he was charged at an arraignment hearing in New York.
Shahzad's charges include:
attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, possession of a firearm in
relation to conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, attempted act of
terrorism transcending national boundaries, conspiracy to commit an act of
terrorism, attempted use of a destructive device in relation to conspiracy to
commit an act of terrorism, and conspiracy to destroy property be fire and
explosives. A 30 year old, naturalized citizen of the United States, Shahzad, will
most likely face a life sentence in prison. The defendant was arrested
attempting to flee the country two days after his failed bomb plot in Times
Square on May 1, 2010.
At his hearing, Shahzad, who
became a US citizen in April 2009, was asked to explain the reasoning behind
his actions. He retold his account of a trip to Pakistan that he took starting
in June 2009. During the trip, he said that he travelled to Waziristan,
Pakistan to join the Taliban, where he received bomb training from the Tehrik-i-Taliban.
It was during this time that he first formulated his attack on Times
Square. It was also around this time
that people close to Shahzad noticed a change in his personality and behaviour.
Shahzad, who was reported as
cooperating well with the authorities since his arrest, was calm and unrepentant
during his hearing. The New York Times
reported Shahzad as saying:
"I
want to plead guilty, and I'm going to plead guilty 100 times over because
until the hour the US pulls its forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, and stops the
drone strikes in Somalia and Yemen and in Pakistan, and stops the occupation of
Muslim lands, and stops killing the Muslims, and stops reporting the Muslims to
its government, we will be attacking US, and I plead guilty to that."
