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Faisal Shahzad - Source: Reuters -
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Today in Manhattan's Federal Court, which is about 10 minutes brisk walk from Ground Zero, 31-year-old naturalised American Faisal Shahzad warned Americans to brace themselves because the war with the Muslims has just begun.
That's pretty much the kind of thing you'd expect from someone who - because of New York State Law - received life without parole for turning his Nissan Pathfinder into a woefully (and thankfully) inept bomb in Times Square earlier this year. Men don't really grow up until they're 28, and here Shahzad is, contemplating passing the rest of his adult life behind bars.
On the other hand, you could say he'd already locked himself in the mental and ethical prison of Islamic fundamentalism.
But not capability. You see Faisal Shahzad and those like him, who form the new face of terrorism, are pretty terrible terrorists. They bang cows and donkeys. They inadvertently blow themselves up while giving one another guy-on-guy bear hugs. See more here.
Shahzad's bomb fizzled, and he was arrested at JFK trying to flee the country. Mohammad Atta, roasting in Hell, must be - well - spinning in his grave.
If such fundamentalism is indeed a prison, we may infer it includes a drama module. These miserable jihadis - how quickly everything degenerates into a semiotic mist - know very well how to play the role of terrorist. In court Shahzad, who once worked as a financial analyst, proclaimed himself a "Muslim solider". He smirked while being sentenced, said "Allahu Akbar", or "God is great", several times, and made his prediction about the war on America.
He was without remorse, or repentance, but that wasn't why prosecutors demanded the highest sentence. They argued that Faisal Shahzad, born in comfort in Pakistan, and a naturalised American, needed to be a deterrent to others like him contemplating terrorist acts within the US.
I'm not sure how much of a disincentive jail is for those who believe that a better world awaits the self-righteous killer, but we'll see how Shahzad's fundamentalism is holding up after 10, 20 or 30 years of always being the one to eat the baloney sandwich.
The prosecutors may have something though. Had Shahzad not lost his financial services position, then his house in Shelton, Connecticut, he may not have decided that the sole honourable course was attempting to make a shambles of Times Square. It's wrong to imagine the path to jihad is trod for reasons of moral laziness alone. Sometimes it's just a way to fill a space.
So the prosecutors' fear may be accurate. Perhaps there are more out there like Shahzad. Rootless, disgruntled, drifting in America. Inclined to the melodramatic, and not so keen on suburban anomie.
On reflection, life without parole probably is a sufficient disincentive. Life's a long time. The only pity of this case is that Shahzad didn't try his bomb trick in Shelton. Connecticut has the death penalty.
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