A grand jury indicted an Afghan immigrant on charges of conspiring to carry out bombings in New York City with the help of al-Qaida operatives last Friday.
Najibullah Zazi was in possession of beauty supply chemicals and had acquired household cleaners — ingredients similar to the explosives used in the July 2005 London bombings.
U.S. officials cited surveillance tapes, wiretaps and explosives recipes saved on Zazi’s laptop in determining the operation had been in the planning for at a least year.
What is even more frightening is that Zazi, a legal U.S. resident, traveled to Afghanistan without setting off any red flags. After all, Afghanistan being the unstable region that it is, Zazi’s constant contact with individuals and eventual travel to the region should have set off some alarm bells with U.S. intelligence. Although much of the information surrounding the case is still set to unravel, the U.S. can be sure it still has a viable and well-trained enemy.
Regardless, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Islamic extremists exist in the U.S.
Another startling revelation surrounding Zazi’s arrest is that he had planned this new attack on 9/11. According to The New York Times, federal prosecutor Tim Neff said, “The evidence suggests a chilling, disturbing sequence of events showing the defendant was intent on making a bomb and being in New York on 9/11.”
However, investigators are not sure whether or not they have thwarted the terrorist plan by simply arresting Zazi.
According to the Wall Street Journal a U.S. Justice Department spokesperson said, “The FBI is investigating several individuals in the U.S., Pakistan and elsewhere, relating to a plot to detonate improvised explosive devices in the U.S.”
Moreover, the fact that Zazi was trained in bomb making in Pakistan stresses the importance of a U.S. victory in neighboring Afghanistan.
However, as Pakistan grows ever more restless, it seems unlikely that — barring full-scale multi-national military effort — Pakistanis can clean up their country.
Pakistan has become the new breeding ground for al-Qaida operatives within the region and a central training ground for many international terrorists. Also worth noting is a recent FBI report that suggests al-Qaida is always on the look out for new operatives with “clean” records and passports — as in Zazi’s case when he was able to travel to Pakistan a few years back.
If that report is verifiable, it suggests that the U.S. must be fighting fraudulent passports even more aggressively.
The only sure way of stopping terrorist operatives from conducting their work in the U.S. is by profiling the individuals that are in contact with foreign nations known to contain elements hostile to the U.S.
Ultimately, if Zazi is convicted of his charges, it tells us at the very least the system is working to a certain degree.
Reach Joseph at jhermiz@asu.edu.
