Saturday, July 17, 2010

The suspect initially described as "a lone white man upset about healthcare reform"

The man who pleaded guilty to carrying out the attempted Times Square car bombing appeared in a video recorded before the failed attack that shows him meeting with senior Pakistani Taliban leaders and vowing to strike the U.S.

In the video, aired in segments Wednesday by the Dubai-based television station Al-Arabiya, Faisal Shahzad said the attack on the New York City landmark would avenge the deaths of Muslims killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"All the Muslim Arabs that have been martyred — I will take revenge on their behalf," he said. "I really wish that the hearts of the Muslims will be pleased with this attack, God willing."

One of the figures he praises as a martyr is Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former leader of al-Qaida in Iraq who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq in 2006.

Shahzad, 30, is seen in the video sitting on the ground in a black turban and olive-colored vest, with an AK-47 next to him. He calls jihad, or holy war, a pillar of the Muslim faith, and says "Islam will spread on the whole world and democracy will be defeated."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100714/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_times_square_car_bomb

Yup, just like N.Y.C. Mayor Bloomberg and MSNBC initially described him - - "a lone white man upset about healthcare reform".

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