"Assuming, for the purpose of argument only, that Shahzad is guilty as charged: Was the pre-emptive war on Iraq to find nonexistent weapons of mass destruction, where well over one million Muslims have been killed by US forces, a factor in why Shahzad made the crude attempt to blow up his rigged van?
"Was the unlawful war on Afghanistan (it was not authorized by the UN Security Council, and to this day the US FBI has not charged Bin Laden with the September 11, 2001 attack on the US), where countless more Muslims have been killed, a factor?
"Was the undeclared, unlawful, but very obvious war on Pakistan, where hundreds of Muslims have been killed by drones and US special forces, a factor?
"Muslim leaders, never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity, failed to ask the all important, "why," Enver Masud concluded.
The suspect, a 30-year old Pakistan-born US citizen, Faisal Shahzad, appeared in a Federal Court in Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon to face charges on his alleged involvement in the botched car-bombing.
A leading newspaper of Pakistan, Dawn, reported that Shahzad received an F-1 student visa in December 1998. Immigration officials noted then that there was "no derogatory information" on him in any database.
He first attended SoutheasternUniversity in Washington, DC, and then transferred in 2000 to the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he received a B.A. in computer science and engineering.
In April, 2002, he was granted an H1-B visa for skilled workers; he stayed in the US for three years on that visa and gained an M.B.A. It is not clear what company sponsored the visa, which is used to attract workers with a "specialty occupation", such as information technology.
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