Synagogue plot witness tells of suspect's hate

The government's star witness against four men charged with trying to blow up New York synagogues and shoot down military planes told a jury Friday that one defendant told him that he hated Jews and Americans and that he wanted to be a martyr and "do something to America."

Shahed Hussain said he was standing by his car outside a Newburgh mosque in June 2008 when he was approached by James Cromitie, the alleged ringleader of the plot that was doomed from the start because an important facilitator - Hussain - was working for the FBI.

The government alleges Cromitie - with Hussain playing "terrorist facilitator" - hatched a plot involving the other men to blow up two synagogues in the Bronx.

They also wanted to use surface-to-air missiles to shoot down planes at the Air National Guard base in Newburgh.

The men obtained what they thought were explosives and a missile system but were actually inert devices supplied by the FBI, prosecutors said. They were arrested on May 20, 2009, when they went to the synagogues to plant the fake bombs.

Hussain, 53, a Pakistani immigrant, testified for more than an hour Friday, telling how Cromitie told him he had committed "a lot of sins" and wanted to find redemption in a spectacular death.

"I want to go to paradise," Hussain quoted Cromitie. He said Cromitie told him: "I want to do something to America."

Hussain recalled that at a second meeting 10 days later at a home the FBI had rented, Cromitie spewed hate.

"He hated Jews and Jewish people and he hated the American people, American soldiers," Hussain said. "He was full of hate on those subjects. He said he would kill the president 700 times because he's the Antichrist." George W. Bush was president then.

Cromitie, 43, and three others - Onta Williams, 34; David Williams, 29; and Laguerre Payen, 28 - are charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles to kill U.S. officers and employees.