After an initial delay, Faisal Shahzad, the failed Times Square car bomber, stood up today in a federal courthouse in downtown Manhattan and entered a plea of "guilty."
Though his expected court appearance had been widely publicized, there were no gunshots heard or bomb threats issued. Notwithstanding Liz Cheney's warnings that bringing suspected terrorists to a U.S. federal courthouse can only cause chaos, the proceeding was orderly, calm and peaceful. The dozens of reporters from around the world who packed the courtroom quietly hurried out to file their stories across the globe.
And the story that they now have to tell is a simple one: the U.S. criminal justice is working.
Since it happened in May, critics of the Obama administration have heralded the failed Times Square bombing attempt as proof that Americans are under constant threat from a powerful foreign enemy and must, in our vigilance, treat all suspected terrorists as enemy warriors -- throwing them in an offshore military prison and either detaining them indefinitely or allowing them only a trial by military commission.
But the careful handling of Faisal Shahzad by New York City police and federal law enforcement is proof of just the opposite. Whether the attempted mass murderer sees himself as aligned with a group of foreign jihadists battling American imperialism is beside the point. What matters is that good old-fashioned law enforcement -- police officers quickly responding to the observations of an alert pedestrian, and skilled FBI agents using time-honored interrogation techniques -- successfully averted disaster and, thereafter, gained critical intelligence to help thwart future attacks.
Shahzad, a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen, was indicted last week on 10 terrorism and weapons charges that accused him of using money and training from the Pakistani Taliban to plot his failed car bombing. His plea of guilty to all 10 counts (five more than originally specified) could land the 30-year-old father of two in prison for life.
Shahzad's plot fizzled, of course, when the gasoline-and-propane bomb he tried to construct failed to ignite in the SUV he'd parked near a Broadway theater. That's typical, say many experts, of bombing attempts in the United States. Among the challenges of detonating a bomb on U.S. soil are the difficulty of obtaining high-powered explosives and of fashioning an effective explosive from the sort of products that are easily available.
That Shahzad wasn't successful doesn't mean he's not a terrorist, however. And what's critical about this case is that skilled law enforcement officials knew that even though his attempt failed, Shahzad was a potential treasure trove of information about the Pakistani Taliban and their operations. And they've exploited that well: after his arrest, Shaizad reportedly cooperated with law enforcement and answered their questions for two weeks before even requesting a lawyer. His arraignment was postponed several times even after a lawyer was appointed to represent him, indicating that even with a lawyer he continued to cooperate, with the process culminating in today's guilty plea.
Shahzad's cooperation has so far lead to the arrest of a Pakistani army major in Islamabad who was allegedly in contact with Shahzad by cell phone. Three men have also been arrested in the United States on immigration charges for allegedly helping Shahzad import money from Pakistan.
Administration critics such as John McCain insisted after Shahzad's arrest that he should never have been read his Miranda rights or treated as a common criminal. Indeed, a bill McCain introduced in March, the Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention and Prosecution Act, would have prevented that. The bill would require all terror suspects such as Shahzad to be turned over to the military for interrogation and possibly indefinite dentition without trial. There would be no Miranda rights, no right to a lawyer and no right to remain silent.
Although it's theoretically possible that military interrogators handling a suspect that way could get useful information, it's not clear exactly how or why that would work. For one thing, military interrogators are trained to gather information on a battlefield, not for future prosecution. That means the evidence can easily be compromised, making it impossible to prosecute the suspect later. That also means the interrogator loses the leverage a future prosecution can offer.
The administration, of course, has said that it can hold indefinitely any suspects it deems "alien enemy belligerents." But that also works against encouraging cooperation. After all, if a suspect knows that acknowledging his participation in the plot could land him in indefinite detention without charge or trial, what incentive does he have to cooperate?
One reason the FBI has been so successful is terrorism cases is that by following the federal court rules, it reserves its ability to criminally prosecute any terrorism suspect. It doesn't have to worry that the evidence won't be admissible later. The suspect, meanwhile, knows he's headed to court, and that the person interrogating him can influence what the charges and the sentence will be. That provides a strong incentive to cooperate and provide as much information as possible, in the hopes of getting some sort of a break -- a few decades in prison, say, instead of life.
Still, critics such as Liz Cheney and Senators Lindsey Graham, John McCain and Joseph Lieberman continue to argue that treating suspected terrorists as criminals isn't being tough enough, and demand military detention.
But just because something's run by the military doesn't make it any tougher. On the contrary, the military commissions created to try suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay have managed to convict only three terrorists in eight years -- and two are already out free. The criminal justice system, on the other hand, has convicted some 400 terrorists since September 11, 2001.
Faisal Shahzad's guilty plea today is a perfect example of how the system works, producing valuable intelligence while still landing convicted terrorists behind bars.
The U.S. faces a very real threat of terrorism, whether at home or abroad. But the solution to the threat isn't to do away with the most effective means we have of combating it.
Follow Daphne Eviatar on Twitter: www.twitter.com/deviatar
Until we can put our feet in the other guys shoes, until we undersand the pain and suffering our 6-degree round robin corporate government has caused with our ever present 'WMD' profit mentality, until these elites are put on the battlefield front line can we MAKE difference. WE must institute some new bills that makes Everyone accountable. The same LAW applies to Everyone, remove the blind fold on Justice so we can ALL SEE, HEAR, and SPEAK.
Otherwise, we'll be trapped like post-War German citizens, never knowing when our legal system got away from us with out-sourced torture camps existing around the world. We are now alert to past FEAR tactics. These elite will no longer be able to TAKE LAWS away and replace them with 'war machine driven' legitimacy or private courts or commissions where selective evidence is brought forward to match the preferred outcome.
Throw him in jail - that's fine. But if I were an Aghani, I'd be thinking "Just leave us the hell alone."
Seems to me that we are the ones retaliating, or on the defensive!
I've come to see Islamic terrorists as part of Islam about as you do. There's some really goofy thinking in there, and there's a limit to how well I can understand because it's so foreign to me.
My comment isn't really about terrorists, it's about us being in their country, and US imperialism. If I were an ordinary Afghani, I'd probably want the US to get the hell out. Plus I don't know why we're really there.
They wants to pretend they are so touse on crimes, but look back at Keating FIVE, they all should have gone to prison. They are stealing from the taxpayer each day, not doing anything but still getting their salary, for no work! So, all of you close your damn mouth and get to work 40 hrs/wk! I don't want to hear any of you know nothings and President Obama haters. As for JL, he should be thanking the president for saving his chairmanship after he had said things about him as he was running for president, and he thought he was going to be JMcC VP, but John threw him under the dus and picked know nothing SP as VP and got mad because they loss! They all need to retire!
Terror has no goals, terror is a weapon of the real enemy. That enemy are the radical proponents of a religion whose Holy Book tells them the entire world must be under the control of the deity named in their Holy Book. Said Holy Book tells them the how of that control, either a proponent of that religion or under it daily control.
That is the goal of the afrementioned followers of a religion.
When the Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum asked Faisal Shahzad about killing women and children he replied to the effect that, that was exactly what the US is and has been doing in Afghanistan and Iraq; killing innocent women and children. OR can only the US and Israel define who and what a terrorist is?
Herein lies real hypocrisy.
Do you, RRT-MD, need any more examples of US and Israeli terrorism?
Terrorism begets terrorism. Punishment NEVER did resolve conflicts: Forgiveness just might.
You've got to be even if you did it just so your friends can make money by supplying the millitary equipment and "rebuilding" the country you destroy.
What an utterly disingenious statement that is! And at so many levels too.
First, if the US hadn't been exerting their own brand of terror on these countries and their people, this would have never happened.
Then, giving the guy a choice of a guilty plea in exchange for not torturing him (something I'm quite sure they've already done with gusto) and putting him to death is hardly what I call a victory.
Lastly, the US legal system (notice that I purpose avoid the cliche "justice system") is as corrupt if not more so than the rest of the empire.
So, please, spare me the celebrations and let's go straight to the lynching.
@ Rudabekia, I agree with u 1000% !!!!!!!! Bring ALL our service personel home and get out of the other Countries!!!!!
A win is a win, get a life.
Qur'an 2:190 , the Qur'an's first mention of Jihad, you'll find this passage: "Jihad is holy fighting in Allah’s Cause with full force of numbers and weaponry. It is given the utmost importance in Islam and is one of its pillars. By Jihad, Islam is established, Allah’s Word is made superior (which means only Allah has the right to be worshiped), and Islam is propagated. By abandoning Jihad, Islam is destroyed and Muslims fall into an inferior position; their honor is lost, their lands are stolen, their rule and authority vanish. Jihad is an obligatory duty in Islam on every Muslim. He who tries to escape from this duty, dies with one of the qualities of a hypocrite."
Qur'an 61:4 "Surely Allah loves those who fight in His Cause."
Qur'an 9:88 "The Messenger and those who believe with him, strive hard and fight with their wealth and lives in Allah’s Cause."
Qur'an 9:5 "Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, torture them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war."
Qur'an 9:112 "The Believers fight in Allah’s Cause, they slay and are slain, kill and are killed."
Qur'an 9:29 "Fight those who do not believe until they all surrender, paying the protective tax in submission."
Faisal Shahzad is only a 'good' Muslim.