The judge hoped he'd have the time to learn that the Koran does not approve of mass murder in the name of Islam. He's proud of what he tried to do, however:
"You appear to be someone who was capable of education and I do hope you will spend some of the time in prison thinking carefully about whether the Quran wants you to kill lots of people," Cedarbaum told Shahzad after she announced his mandatory life sentence, which under federal sentencing rules will keep him behind bars until he dies.
Shahzad, 31, responded that the "Quran gives us the right to defend. And that's all I'm doing."
Earlier, Shahzad offered a lecture of his own for Americans, saying he felt no remorse.
"We are only Muslims ... but if you call us terrorists, we are proud terrorists and we will keep on terrorizing you," he said.
At another point, he said: "The defeat of the U.S. is imminent."
So there you go. Killing us is defending Islam. He considers his intentions as fully consistent with Islam. He thinks we can be beaten and sees no reason that jihadis shouldn't try to kill lots of us on their path to victory in the name of Islam.
Luckily, he failed in his effort to kill Americans, so he's not a terribly good jihadi, I guess.
And while I am grateful he will spend his life in prison, from my point of view he isn't a good jihadi either--he still lives.
We shouldn't spend so much time worrying that our focus on eliminating jihadis is somehow insulting to all Moslems. That just accepts Shahzad's reasoning that he represents all of Islam. We need to kill jihadis so other Moslems can be more free to reject the jihadis. That would truly be defending Islam.
Kill them all. Let Allah sort them out. It's old advice, but still good.
