A 'double agent' informant
EditorialNew York Post
September 25, 2009
Najibullah Zazi planned for more than a year to manufacture and detonate bombs, with New York's transit system the likely target.
Those are among the terrorism charges lodged yesterday against the airport-shuttle driver, who reportedly admitted having received weapons and explosives training from al Qaeda.
Let's hope Attorney General Eric Holder was right when he said he believes that "any imminent threat arising from this case has been disrupted."
But there's another troubling element to this case: the role of Ahmad Wais Afzali, a Queens imam who, despite having cooperated with investigators in the past, allegedly tipped off Zazi that the feds were closing in -- forcing agents to move against Zazi sooner than planned.
Which raises the question of whether Afzali's dual role -- cooperating against would-be terrorists on the one hand, tipping them off on the other -- was an aberration. The FBI and local police have invested much time and effort in trying to develop sources of information in the Muslim community.
But some, like Rep. Pete King, claim that "80 to 85 percent of mosques in this country are controlled by Islamic fundamentalists." And while "average Muslims are loyal . . . they won't come forward and cooperate with police." The charges against Afzali make King's allegations all the more worrisome.