Zazi Pleads Guilty in NYC Subway Terror Plot

Airport shuttle driver points finger at US actions in Afghanistan
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 22, 2010 3:00 PM CST
Zazi Pleads Guilty in NYC Subway Terror Plot
In this Sept. 17, 2009 file photo, Najibullah Zazi leaves his apartment in Aurora, Colo., for a meeting with his attorney. On Monday Feb. 22, 2010, the airport shuttle driver entered a guilty plea.    (Ed Andrieski)

A former Denver airport shuttle driver today admitted to a plot to bomb the New York City subways, saying he was recruited by al-Qaeda in Pakistan for a "martyrdom plan" against the US. Najibullah Zazi, 25, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and providing material support for a terrorist organization. He faces a life prison sentence without parole at a sentencing in June.

"I would sacrifice myself to bring attention to what the US military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan," Zazi, a native of Arghanistan, told a federal judge in a Brooklyn courtroom. Law enforcement officials told the AP the jailed Zazi recently volunteered information about the bomb plot during a meeting with his attorney and federal prosecutors. A source said Zazi decided to offer the information after being warned that his mother could face criminal immigration charges. (More Najibullah Zazi stories.)

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