A Confession

Yet another Islamic terrorist confesses to a plot to cause mass casualties and mayhem.

A suspected radical Islamic terror fiend yesterday admitted to a massive bomb plot targeting Manhattan's 34th Street subway station, the Verrazano Bridge and a slew of Staten Island police precincts.

"It had originally been your plan to put a bomb in the 34th Street subway station?" Brooklyn Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Harrison asked Pakistani-born defendant Shahawar Matin Siraj in federal court.

"Yes, that's correct," Siraj, 23, sniffed nonchalantly.

The suspect then gave similar responses to a string of questions about his alleged mastermind role in the potentially devastating terror scheme.

Siraj was busted in August 2004, just days before the Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden, above the hub for the transit system around Herald Square.

Siraj also allegedly devised an elaborate scheme to launch bloody attacks on two other Manhattan subway stations, the Verrazano Bridge, Staten Island police station houses and a jail — "to teach these bastards a good lesson," according to court papers.

Siraj claims to have been incensed over the Abu Ghraib scandal, but that smacks of a convenient excuse. Lots of folks were incensed over the scandal, but so far this is the only one who decided that it was worth the extra effort to begin plotting mass casualty attacks throughout the New York metro region. The New York Times has more:

A Queens man charged in 2004 with conspiring to blow up the Herald Square subway station testified yesterday in federal court in Brooklyn that while he first claimed the plot was not his idea, he later told federal prosecutors that it was.

The man, Shahawar Matin Siraj, 23, testifying during a hearing in his case before Judge Nina Gershon of United States District Court, acknowledged making the admissions to federal and local authorities in the hours after his arrest in the plot.

Mr. Siraj's lawyers, Martin R. Stolar and Khurrum Wahid, sought the hearing and had their client testify to try to prevent the government from using the admissions at trial, arguing that they were improperly obtained. The hearing will continue today, and Judge Gershon will then rule on whether prosecutors can use the statements as evidence.