The Sunday Read: ‘The “Herald Square Bomber” Who Wasn’t’

<p>In summer 2003, Shahawar Matin Siraj, then 21, met Osama Eldawoody, a nuclear engineer twice his age. To Mr. Siraj’s delight they struck up an unlikely friendship — never before had someone this sophisticated taken him so seriously.</p><p>At the older man’s encouragement, Mr. Siraj became entangled in a plot to place a bomb in Herald Square subway station. He would later want out of the plan, but it was too late: Mr. Eldawoody, it turned out, was one of thousands of informants recruited by the police and the F.B.I. after the Sept. 11 attacks.</p><p>Today on The Sunday Read, did the U.S. government’s network of informants create plots where none existed?</p><p><i>This story was written by Rozina Ali and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, </i><a href="https://www.audm.com/?utm_source=nytmag&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=the_shadow_war" target="_blank"><i>download Audm for iPhone or Android</i></a><i>.</i></p><p> </p>