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Afghan-American Pleads Guilty to N.Y. Subway Bombing Plot

Afghan-American and sometime Queens, N.Y., resident Najibullah Zazi on Monday pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges relating to an alleged plot to bomb the New York City subway system shortly after last year's 9/11 anniversary.

Federal officials said that Zazi, who was born in Afghanistan but emigrated to the U.S. with his family, on Monday entered a guilty plea in federal court in Brooklyn to three terrorism-related charges: conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction within the U.S., conspiring to commit murder overseas, and providing material support to terrorists. The first two charges each carry potential sentences of life imprisonment, said one of the officials, who asked for anonymity when discussing the case before an official government press conference, scheduled for later Monday afternoon.

The officials said that as part of the plea bargain, Zazi acknowledged that he had planned, apparently on the encouragement and instructions of Al Qaeda operatives he met while visiting Pakistan, to attack the New York subway system between Sept. 14 and 16 of last year. As part of the plot, the officials said, he told investigators he had brought with him, on a cross-country drive from his residence in Denver, a quantity of homemade explosive known as TATP, which can be made using a common chemical solvent, acetone, and an even more common hair-bleaching ingredient, hydrogen peroxide. TATP had been previously used in homemade explosive devices carried by both the December 2001 would-be airplane shoe bomber Richard Reid and the suicide bombers who blew up London Transport underground trains and a bus on July 7, 2005.

Authories last month also arrested two men who allegedly traveled to Pakistan with Zazi in 2008, Adis Medunjanin and Zasrein Ahmedzay, in connection with the same alleged plot. A New York area imam and Zazi's father were also arrested in the case, but subsequently released on bail.

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Mark Hosenball joined Newsweek as an investigative correspondent in November 1993, covering a range of issues for the National Affairs department. Most recently, he has written and reported numerous stories on terrorism and the Sept. 11 attacks on America. He has also covered campaign finance, the Monica Lewinsky controversy, the death of Princess Diana, Whitewater, the crashes of EgyptAir flight 990 and TWA flight 800, as well as related air safety issues.

Hosenball came to Newsweek from "Dateline NBC," where he worked as an investigative producer. He also worked extensively as a print journalist, writing for a number of British and American publications, including the London Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard, Time Out, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Republic. In addition, he has done commentaries for American Public Radio.

Hosenball has been honored with a number of prestigious awards. Most recently, along with a team of Newsweek correspondents, he was awarded the Overseas Press Club's most prestigious honor, the 2002 Ed Cunningham Memorial Award for best magazine reporting from abroad for Newsweek's coverage of the war on terror. His reporting and that of his colleagues earned Newsweek the prestigious National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2002 for its coverage of September 11 and its aftermath. And a story he co-authored was highlighted in a citation Newsweek received by the White House Correspondents' Association when it awarded the magazine the 2002 Edgar A. Poe Award for "excellence on a story of national or regional importance. "Newsweek's September 11 coverage started long before the attacks. An article in the magazine's February 19, 2001 issue warned with chilling accuracy: 'The threat posed by (Osama) bin Laden is growing -- and coming ever closer to home."

Hosenball was a contributor to the CANAL + TV documentary, "L'Argent de la Drogue" (Drug Money), which was awarded the "Sept D'Or," the French equivalent of an Emmy. He also contributed to NBC News' coverage of the BCCI scandal, which earned a 1991 Peabody Award.

He attended the University of Pennsylvania and Trinity College in Dublin. He lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his wife and son.

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