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Band of brothers

From an August 23, 2004, video recording presented by the prosecution as evidence in the case of United States v. Shahawar Matin Siraj. On May 24, Siraj, a twenty-four-year-old Pakistani immigrant living in Queens, was found guilty on four counts of bombing conspiracy. The defense argued that Siraj had been entrapped by Osama Eldawoody, a fifty-year-old Egyptian-born police informant. Eldawoody first approached Siraj, who was working at an Islamic bookstore, in 2003, and was reportedly paid $100,000 by law-enforcement officers to record his conversations with Siraj and James Elshafay, Siraj's friend and codefendant. Elshafay, a schizophrenic twenty-one-year-old resident of Staten Island, pleaded guilty in October 2004 and testified against Siraj.

OSAMA ELDAWOODY: Brother Nazeem upstate is very, very happy, very impressed. He says about the Verrazano, it's a little bit complicated. We are not that big, that strong, it's too heavy for us, things like that. He says, “in time.” The plan is perfect, but it needs a nuclear bomb, not a regular bomb. So he says that will be later. 34th Street is on.

SHAHAWAR MATIN SIRAJ: Hmm? Tell him that we are very careful about people's lives. Have you told him this?

ELDAWOODY: We've spoken of many things.

SIRAJ: I don't want to be the one who drops it and have people die.

ELDAWOODY: No, no. He agrees, he agrees about lots of things. Because that's the principle, you know? No suiciding, no killing.

SIRAJ: No killing. Only economy problems. I'm going to work as a planner.

ELDAWOODY: Are you okay with it?

SIRAJ: I have to, you know, ask my mother's permission. Every single thing matters.

ELDAWOODY: Okay, here is the point. Are you willing to do jihad?

SIRAJ: I will work with those brothers as a planner or whatever. But dropping the bomb? I'm not sure. I have to think about it. Give me some time to feel comfortable with it.

ELDAWOODY: You don't want to put it there?

SIRAJ: No.

ELDAWOODY: Okay, I'll tell them that, because they were depending on you the most at 34th Street Station.

SIRAJ: I know about 34th Street. I can go with the brother, whatever, but I will not be the one who drops it.

ELDAWOODY: There will be two people.

SIRAJ: I will be the second person, if the other guy is dropping. No problem.

ELDAWOODY: It's not dropping. It's putting the stuff in a garbage can. Whatever makes you comfortable.

SIRAJ: I already gave the brothers the idea. They liked it, right? But the thing is, I will not be the person who puts it in the garbage can. Because if somebody dies, then the blame will come on me. Allah doesn't see those situations as accidents.

ELDAWOODY: So you are out of jihad?

SIRAJ: Planning is also jihad, brother.

JAMES ELSHAFAY: Am I going to do 34th Street?

ELDAWOODY: Yes.

ELSHAFAY: Can they maybe get someone who is more trained to do this?

SIRAJ: We're new. We don't even know what we are doing. We only know that I made the plan and we are working on the plan.

ELSHAFAY: If I'm going to do 34th Street, I want to go there a few more times. I want to check it out a little more. And if they can get someone better qualified than me to do it, then I think they should, because I'm not really experienced in this and might not know what to do. Is that okay?

ELDAWOODY: Okay. Whatever you feel. Whatever.

ELSHAFAY: I'll do it.

SIRAJ: The time to check out the station is in the morning from three o'clock to five o'clock. When the train stops, how many people get out? Find out which car is empty, so people have a chance to survive, you know. That way, it will be nice.

ELSHAFAY: I have an idea. If I go in to do it, I'll dress like a Jew. I'll have the bomb on me so it looks like a belly. I'll take it out and put it in the garbage can. I'll tuck in my shirt and walk out the 34th Street entrance.

SIRAJ: Don't put it in the belly.

ELSHAFAY: But I'm going to dress like a Jew. That way no one will check me.

SIRAJ: Jews do carry bags. See what bags they carry. What kinds of things they carry. Maybe it could be a Macy's bag.

ELSHAFAY: They'll never check a Jew, 'cause they know Jews aren't the ones doing it.

ELDAWOODY: Okay, are you going to be with him, Matin?

SIRAJ: Yeah, I can be with him.

ELSHAFAY: No. It's better if I just go in myself. Walk down there, inshallah, and everything will go the way Allah planned it. But I gotta get Jewish garb.

SIRAJ: The ponytails too?

ELSHAFAY: Yeah, those curls too. I gotta have 'em. Is there any way they can make the bomb look like something different?

ELDAWOODY: I don't know, but I don't think so.

ELSHAFAY: Could they make it look like a clock?

ELDAWOODY: A clock?

ELSHAFAY: 'Cause if they make it look like something different and I get checked, they just won't see that it's a bomb. They don't have X rays there in the subway.

ELDAWOODY: I know that.

ELSHAFAY: So, yeah, definitely. If they can get the bomb to look like something different, I'll get dressed up like a Jew and go put the bomb there.

ELDAWOODY: So, Matin, what's your part? Your part is out? You don't want nothing?

SIRAJ: With the 34th thing?

ELDAWOODY: Yeah, 34th?

SIRAJ: I see you've started smoking again. You have to control yourself. It's not good for your health. Plus you have a daughter.

ELDAWOODY: No, no, no. It's under control. I'm playing with cigarettes. I was a heavy smoker, and I don't smoke now. I'm totally under control with cigarettes.

SIRAJ: It can hurt your liver, right? Cirrhosis, the nicotine.

ELDAWOODY: Smoking has nothing to do with the liver.

SIRAJ: But you cannot let that thing control you.

ELDAWOODY: Smoking is not good, but did I say that smoking is good?

ELSHAFAY: It hurts the lungs.

ELDAWOODY: But I don't inhale the smoke.

ELSHAFAY: Then you can get tongue cancer.

ELDAWOODY: Tongue?

ELSHAFAY: Tongue cancer.

ELDAWOODY: If I am dying, I am not going to die from cigarettes. I would die from other things.

ELSHAFAY: I miss Egypt.

ELDAWOODY: I do too. I really do.

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SEE ALSO: Pakistanis; Police patrol; Siraj, Shahawar Matin; Surveillance operations; Terrorists; Trials, litigation, etc.

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