In this photo released by the New York City Police Department, Najibullah Zazi, center, is escorted off an NYPD helicopter by U.S Marshals after being extradited from Denver, Colo., Friday, Sept. 25, 2009. Zazi was sent to New York to face charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction in a plot law enforcement has said was focused on blowing up commuter trains. (AP Photo/New York City Police Department) Credit: APFrom Time Magazine:
You'd think Najibullah Zazi would stand out on the high, dry plains southeast of Denver, where the earth is as flat as a starched shirt and mere wrinkles count as topography. But if heartland suburbs were ever enclaves of uniformity, that day is long gone. Aurora, Colo., is a city of people from somewhere else, a low-slung municipality of 315,000 that includes extremes of both poverty and prosperity. Aurora is vast — nearly 154 sq. mi. (400 sq km) — and dense, with a high concentration of multifamily housing units, apartment buildings, townhouses and condominiums. Those homes contain a patchwork of races, ethnicities and tribes: Aurora is 23% Hispanic; 13% black; 15% Asian, Native American and other. Nearly 100 languages are spoken by students in the Aurora public schools. It is, in short, an excellent place for a young man with a laptop and a recipe for bombs to hide in plain sight.
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More News On America's Terror Plots
FBI chief sees no imminent threat from Zazi case -- Reuters
Officials: NY men being watched in terror probe -- AP
FBI to senators: Terror case wasn't damaged -- AP
Afghan immigrant pleads not guilty to bombing conspiracy -- L.A. Times
Terror on the Prairie: Zazi's Life in Colorado -- Time Magazine
Rush for Clues Before Charges in Terror Case -- New York Times
Zazi case: How far should FBI go in tracking Muslims? -- Christian Science Monitor
Homecoming -- Newsweek