Transcript of Najibullah Zazi statement to judge about plot to bomb New York City subways

Najibullah Zazi’s pleas in court to terror charges

This is the text of Najibullah Zazi’s description in federal court in Brooklyn of a plan hatched to make homemade bombs to attack the New York City transit system. Zazi pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy to make weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and providing material support to al-Qaida.

JUDGE RAYMOND J. DEARIE: All right. Turning then back to the specific charges. Count 1 charges — Count 1 and Count 2 — if you’ll permit me, Counts 1 and 2 of the superseding information charge the crime of conspiracy. All right? What, sir, is your understanding of the nature of the conspiracy? What is a conspiracy?

ZAZI: Two or more planned to do criminal or any kind of activity.

DEARIE: That’s right. A conspiracy is an illegal agreement, and therefore, it requires that at least two people, two or more people conspire or agree to commit a specific offense. The specific offense that is the object of the conspiracy in Count 1 is to use weapons of mass destruction, more specifically, explosive bombs and other similar explosive devices, against persons and property here in the United States, and in furtherance of that, to use the facilities of interstate commerce by virtue of the e-mail or Internet, traveling in interstate or foreign commerce, and with the understanding or the knowledge that the offense and the results would have some effect on interstate or foreign commerce. Did you do that?

ZAZI: Yes.

DEARIE: Count 2 alleges a conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country. Were you involved in such an illegal agreement?

ZAZI: Yes, Your Honor.

DEARIE: And finally, Count 3 alleges the substantive count for providing material support to a terrorist organization, namely al-Qaida. Did do you that?

ZAZI: Yes, Your Honor.

DEARIE: Tell me what happened.

DEFENSE LAWYER WILLIAM J. STAMPUR: Judge, if I may, Counts 1 and 3 are intertwined, so I think, with the Court’s permission, Mr. Zazi will read Count 2 first, and then Counts 1 and 3 will both be covered by his allocution.

DEARIE: That’s fine. With respect to Count 2, which charges conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country.

ZAZI: Your Honor, during the spring and summer of 2008, I conspired with others to travel to Afghanistan to join the Taliban and fight against the U.S. military and its allies. We made this agreement in Queens, New York, to carry out this agreement. At the end of August 2008, we flew from New York airport to Peshawar, Pakistan.

DEARIE: Your purpose in going to Pakistan?

ZAZI: Was to join Taliban.

DEARIE: For the purpose of?

ZAZI: To fight alongside with the Taliban against the U.S.

DEARIE: With respect to Counts 1 and 3?

ZAZI: Yes, Your Honor. Also, our plan was to go to Afghanistan and fight with the Taliban. While we were in Peshawar, we were recruited by al-Qaida, instead. We were taken by al-Qaida to training camp in Waziristan, where we received weapons training. During the training, al-Qaida leaders asked us to return to the United States and conduct martyrdom operation. We agreed to this plan. I did so because of my feelings about what the United States was doing in Afghanistan. Later, I received more training from al-Qaida about how to construct the explosives for attack in the United States or to carry martyrdom operation. I took notes on the training and later e-mailed a summary of the notes to myself, so that I could access them in the U.S. During my training, I had discussion with al-Qaida. I had discussions with al-Qaida leaders, including target locations, such as New York City subways. I also give money and computers to al-Qaida during that trip. In January 2009, I come back to United States. Beginning around June 2009, I accessed my bomb-making notes and began researching where to find the ingredients for the explosives. I also took trips to New York, and meet with others to discuss the plan, including the timing of the attack, and where to make the explosives. I then used the bomb-making notes to construct explosive for the detonators in Denver. The explosives was hydrogen peroxide. In early September 2009, I drove to New York with the detonator explosive and other materials necessarily — necessary to build a bombs. I arrived in New York City on Thursday, September 10th. And we intend to obtain and assemble the remaining components to build a bomb over the weekend. The plan was to conduct martyrdom operation on subway lines in Manhattan as soon as the material were ready, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. When I arrived in New York City, I realized that law enforcement was investigating me. At that point, we threw away the detonator explosives and other materials, and I flew back to Denver, and I was arrested j ust a few days after.

DEARIE: You used the word “bomb.” Do you mean bomb or bombs?

ZAZI: Bombs.

DEARIE: Plural?

ZAZI: Plural.

DEARIE: And you say you met in New York with others. Are they al-Qaida representatives?

ZAZI: No.

DEARIE: But others who are involved in this activity?

ZAZI: Yeah.

DEARIE: And you used the phrase “martyrdom activities.” Is that in the nature of a suicide bomber?

ZAZI: Yes, Your Honor. I have a different explanation to that. To me, it meant that I would sacrifice myself to bring attention to what the United States military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan by sacrificing my soul for the sake of saving other souls.

DEARIE: And did your plan include specific targets within the subway system?

ZAZI: Wasn’t sure, but yes.