Congressman Gregory W. Meeks Statement on Sentencing of the Times Square Bomber

(WASHINGTON, DC)– Congressman Gregory W. Meeks (NY-6), Senior Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Financial Services Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy and Trade, issued the following statement in regards to the sentencing of the Times Square Bomber:

“Yesterday's sentencing of Faisal Shahzad, the Taliban-trained terrorist who attempted to set off a car bomb last summer that would have killed hundreds of innocent people in Times Square, is vindication of federal, state, and local anti-terrorism efforts.

“I commend the U.S. Justice Department for their pursuit of justice on behalf of the American people and U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum for the fair yet firm manner in which she conducted the trial. In particular, I believe Judge Cedarbaum spoke for humanity, including most of the more than 1 billion Muslims in the world, when she said to Mr. Shahzad that she hoped he “will spend some of the time in prison thinking carefully about whether the Quran wants you to kill lots of people.”

“Shahzad rants about his attempted bombing being a part of a “Muslim war” but, overlooked the fact that had he been successful in detonating his car bomb he would have killed Muslims as well as non-Muslims.”