Maybe We Can Catch UBL In A NYPD Sting Operation!

There’s a peculiar circular logic in the notion that you “stopped the worst from happening” when “the worst” was your idea in the first place . . . unless I’m missing something here:

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly ruffled feathers in federal law enforcement when he decided to make the NYPD Intelligence Division a force in counterterrorism.

Kelly put former CIA official David Cohen in charge and poured detectives and resources into the division with a mandate to protect the city from another terror attack.

Now the conviction of Shahawar Matin Siraj on charges of plotting to blow up the Herald Square subway station stands as the showcase example of how the NYPD, using its own informants and investigative powers, could, in Kelly’s words, “stop the worst from happening.”

“The police operate proactively rather than reactively,” said Thomas Reppetto, the author of “NYPD: A City and its Police.”

“They stopped the bomb from being planted rather than wait to investigate afterward.”

But is this guy such a big catch? You decide:

A federal jury in Brooklyn convicted a Pakistani immigrant yesterday in the plot to blow up the Herald Square subway station in 2004. The jurors rejected his defense that a paid police informer had entrapped him by stoking his rage with images of Muslims abused at the hands of Americans.

The man, Shahawar Matin Siraj, who will turn 24 tomorrow, appeared pallid and downcast as the jury forewoman delivered the verdict. . . .

The most serious charge, plotting to bomb a public transportation system, can carry a life sentence, although lawyers and prosecutors said Mr. Siraj would most likely face a term of 20 to 30 years under federal guidelines. He turned down a plea deal that would have given him a 10-year sentence.

. . .

The United States attorney in Brooklyn, Roslynn R. Mauskopf, whose office prosecuted the case, said: “Siraj conspired to plant a bomb in one of the most active transportation hubs in America. Thanks to the diligent work of law enforcement, the plot never developed beyond the planning stage, and the public was never at risk.”

The defense in the case argued that Mr. Siraj had been entrapped by the paid informer, Osama Eldawoody, a 50-year-old Egyptian-born nuclear engineer who, Mr. Siraj’s lawyers contended, sought to draw their client into the plot for the money. Evidence showed he was paid about $100,000 over two years and nine months — $25,000 during the 13 months he worked as an informer and the rest in relocation and living expenses over the 20 months between the arrests and the trial. [Emph. added to underscore a deliciously backhanded compliment]

At some point someone will figure out that the NYPD might not be the best place to look to for counter-terrorism operations.