Times Square Plotter Gets Life Term

Failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad said the U.S. should brace itself for war as he was sentenced Tuesday to life behind bars.

By Chad Bray  -  Wall Street Journal  -  October 5, 2010

A Pakistani-born U.S. citizen who tried to detonate a crudely made car bomb in Times Square earlier this year was sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday as he vowed that there would be more attacks against America.

"Brace yourselves, the war with Muslims has just begun," 31-year old Faisal Shahzad told a federal judge. "Consider me the first droplet of the flood that will follow." He said the defeat of the U.S. is "imminent and will happen in the near future."

Mr. Shahzad, 31 years old, is one of a number of home-grown U.S. terrorists who have surfaced over the past two years in a growing challenge for law-enforcement officials. In June, he pleaded guilty to a 10-count indictment, including charges of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting an act of terrorism.

A courtroom sketch of Faisal Shahzad at his sentencing on Tuesday.

Dressed in blue prison garb with white prayer cap, Mr. Shahzad was led in handcuffs into a federal courtroom in Manhattan, where he spent more than five minutes railing against the U.S. He said he was prepared, if given 1,000 lives, to "sacrifice them all for the sake of Allah."

As Judge Cedarbaum handed down the life sentence, she said: "The defendant has repeatedly expressed his total lack of remorse and his desire, if given the opportunity, to repeat the crime." Mr. Shahzad "has now announced and, by his conduct, has evidenced his desire is not to defend the United States or Americans, but to kill them."

Mr. Shahzad, who lived in Shelton, Conn., has been in custody since his arrest on May 3, two days after the bombing attempt, and after he was taken off an international flight headed out of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

An unoccupied, smoking Nissan Pathfinder was found parked in Times Square on May 1. Inside the vehicle, the New York Police Department bomb squad found several bags of fertilizer, two red five-gallon gasoline canisters, 152 M-88 fireworks, three propane gas canisters and two alarm clocks connected to wires.

Mr. Shahzad told authorities after his arrest that he had planned to detonate a second bomb in New York two weeks later if he wasn't in custody, according to prosecutors.

In a sentencing letter last week, prosecutors said Mr. Shahzad accessed websites that provided real-time video of the crowds in Times Square in the weeks prior to the attack "as part of his effort to maximize the deadly effect of his bomb."

Prosecutors have alleged Mr. Shahzad received explosives training in Pakistan in December from people affiliated with Tehrik-e-Taliban, a militant extremist group based there.

"He's a remorseless terrorist who betrayed his adopted country," said Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan. "He's no longer a threat. The ongoing and important challenge for us is to make sure we get the next Shahzad."

Judge Cedarbaum urged Mr. Shahzad to consider whether the Koran wants him to kill people. He responded: "The Koran gives us the right to defend, and that's what all I'm doing."

Mr. Shahzad said his sentence "will only be for the limit God has give me life in this world...." I'm happy with the deal that God has given me."