Thwarted Terrorist Gets Jail Time

A man was sentenced to [five years in prison] today for plotting to blow up a Manhattan subway station. James Elshafa and Shahawar Matin Siraj met in an Islamic bookstore and hatched their initial plan—later revised—to bomb four bridges connecting Staten Island to Brooklyn and New Jersey. The AP reports, "Siraj and Elshafay were caught with crude diagrams of the Herald Square subway station on Aug. 27, 2004, the eve of the Republican National Convention. Prosecutors said the men wanted to avenge the abuses of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison." Last year in Brooklyn federal court, Elshafay pleaded guilty and testified against Siraj, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison.