Suspected NYC bomb plotter Najibullah Zazi pleaded guilty today to three counts.
A former Denver airport shuttle driver admitted Monday to a plot to bomb the New York City subways, saying he was recruited by al-Qaida in Pakistan for a "martyrdom plan" against the United States.
"I would sacrifice myself to bring attention to what the U.S. military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan," Najibullah Zazi, 25, told a federal judge in a Brooklyn courtroom.
The Afghan native 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.
Jeralyn points out:
So he had lawyers from day 1, waived his Miranda rights, wasn't tortured, and is now cooperating and pleading guilty. He's going to get a reduced sentence in exchange for his cooperation. The U.S. gets the benefit of his knowledge. He gets punished and incarcerated.
All of this in a federal criminal court with him being provided his full panoply of constitutional rights.
This is the same scenario that will play out with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The same can and should be done with the 9/11 defendants. It's too late to undo the torture they underwent, but DOJ says it has a winnable case without the compromised statements. There's no need for military tribunals with reduced rights for the accused. Our federal courts work just fine.
Abdulmutallab cooperated when FBI interrogators allowed his parents to talk to him, encouraging him to talk. That wouldn't have worked, Eric Holder (and Spencer Ackerman) argue at that link, if Abdulmutallab had either been removed to some black site for "enhanced interrogation" or if the threat of that fate hung over him. His father wouldn't have gone to U.S. authorities in the first place if that had been a possibility.
Our system of justice works, both to secure justice and to keep us safe, despite the fact that we've learned that presidents and vice presidents are indeed above the law.