Times Square bomber Shahzad declares war on Americans

NEW YORK - Failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad has apparently declared war against all Americans in retaliation for their occupation of Muslim lands and random killing of Muslims.

Having pleaded guilty on Monday to all ten charges related to the attempted Times Square bombing before a judge of the Federal District Court in Manhattan, Shahzad said: “I want to plead guilty and I’m going to plead guilty 100 times over, because until the hour the U.S. 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 the U.S., and I plead guilty to that.”

The New York Times further quoted him as saying that he considered himself to be a Muslim soldier, and added that it did not matter to him who was in the vicinity of Times Square at the time of his attempted attack.

When Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum asked him whether he had had a look around to see who was in the area before his planned attack, Shahzad said: “Well, the people select the government; we consider them all the same.”Including the children?” the judge asked.

“Well, the drone hits in Afghanistan and Iraq,” they don’t see children, they don’t see anybody. They kill women, children. They kill everybody. It’s a war. And in war, they kill people. They’re killing all Muslims,” Shahzad said.

Shahzad recounted how and why he conceived the plot, and was unapologetic, characterizing himself as “part of the answer to the U.S. terrorizing the Muslim nations and the Muslim people.”

The plea and Mr. Shahzad’s comments came four days after a federal grand jury returned an indictment that offered new details about the government’s accusations that Tehrik-i-Taliban, the umbrella organization for the Pakistani Taliban, had assisted Shahzad in his plot.

Wearing a white head covering, Shahzad stood for more than half an hour in court answering the judge’s questions about his motivations, his background, even his family.

Shahzad said he wanted to injure and kill people and damage a building.hroughout the session, Shahzad did not raise his voice and answered the judge’s questions straightforwardly. There were also no outbursts from the spectators. (ANI)