Faisal Shahzad, 31, pleaded guilty in June to a failed May 1 bombing in Manhattan. He admitted he received bomb-making training from the Pakistani Taleban and that this group, known as Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan, had funded the bomb plot.

“The defeat of (the) US is imminent and will happen in near future,” he told the Manhattan federal courtroom. “We are only Muslims ... but if you call us terrorists, we are proud terrorists and we will keep on terrorizing you.”

Shahzad, in shackles, a blue prison tunic and a white prayer cap, smiled as he spoke for about five minutes.

“We Muslims don’t abide by human-made laws because they are always corrupt,” he said, denouncing the presence of US and NATO forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and mentioning Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.

“Furthermore, brace yourselves because the war with Muslims has just begun,” he said. “Consider me the first droplet of the flood that will follow.”

He addressed the court after being sentenced by US District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum to life with no chance of parole.

“The defendant has repeatedly expressed his total lack of remorse, his desire, if given the opportunity, to repeat the crime,” Cedarbaum said.

Pointing out Shahzad recently became a US citizen, she said he “falsely swore allegiance to his country.”

“His desire is not to defend the United States and Americans but to kill them,” she said.
 

Shahzad, who lived in the neighboring state of Connecticut, parked a smoking sports utility vehicle in Times Square with its engine running and hazard lights flashing on a balmy springtime Saturday evening.

A bomb squad diffused the crude device, which included firecrackers and propane gas tanks.

Times Square is 3.5 miles (5.5 kilometer) north of the World Trade Center, destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Shahzad, whose wife and two children live in Pakistan, told investigators he thought his bomb would kill at least 40 people, and that he had planned a second bombing attack two weeks later. A second target was not identified.

The son of a retired Pakistani vice air marshal, Shahzad was arrested aboard a Dubai-bound jetliner at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport two days after the attempted attack. He had been on his way back to Pakistan.

Shahzad pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted terrorism transcending national borders.

Prosecutors had sought a mandatory life term for Shahzad.

“Faisal Shahzad is a remorseless terrorist who betrayed his adopted country and today was rightly sentenced to spend the rest of his life in federal prison,” Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.

The judge urged Shahzad to reflect on his actions and “whether the Qur'an wants you to kill lots of people.”

Shahzad said: “The Qur'an gives us the right to defend, and that’s what I’m doing. I am happy with the deal God has given me.”