NEW YORK — Calling himself a Muslim soldier, a defiant Pakistan-born U.S. citizen pleaded guilty Monday to carrying out the failed Times Square car bombing and left a sinister warning that unless the U.S. leaves Muslim lands alone, “we will be attacking U.S.”

Wearing a white skull cap, prison smocks and a dark beard, Faisal Shahzad entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Manhattan just days after a federal grand jury indicted him on 10 terrorism and weapons counts, some of which carried mandatory life prison sentences. He pleaded guilty to them all.

U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum challenged Shahzad repeatedly with questions such as whether he had worried about killing children in Times Square.

“One has to understand where I’m coming from,” Shahzad calmly replied. “I consider myself … a Muslim soldier.”

The 30-year-old described his effort to set off a bomb in an SUV he parked in Times Square on May 1, saying he chose the warm Saturday night because it would be crowded with people he could injure or kill. He said he conspired with the Pakistan Taliban, which provided more than $15,000 to fund his operation.

He explained that he packed his vehicle with three separate bomb components, hoping to set off a fertilizer-fueled bomb packed in a gun cabinet, a set of propane tanks and gas canisters rigged with fireworks to explode into a fireball. He also revealed he was carrying a folding assault rifle for “self-defense.”

Shahzad said he lit a fuse and waited 2 1/2 to five minutes for the bomb to erupt.

“I was waiting to hear a sound but I didn’t hear a sound. … So I walked to Grand Central and went home,” he said.

Shahzad dismissed the judge’s question about the children by saying the U.S. didn’t care when children were killed in Muslim countries.

“It’s a war. I am part of the answer to the U.S. terrorizing the Muslim nations and the Muslim people,” he said. “On behalf of that, I’m revenging the attack. Living in the United States, Americans only care about their people, but they don’t care about the people elsewhere in the world when they die.”

Cedarbaum also asked Shahzad if he understood that the people in Times Square might not have anything to do with what happened overseas.

“The people select the government. We consider them all the same,” Shahzad said during the hour-long hearing.

Shahzad made the plea and an accompanying statement as Cedarbaum began asking him a lengthy series of questions to ensure he understood his rights.

She asked him if he understood some charges carried mandatory life sentences and that he might spend the rest of his life in prison. He said he did.

At one point, she asked him if he was sure he wanted to plead guilty.

He said he wanted “to plead guilty and 100 times more” to let the U.S. know that if it did not get out of Iraq and Afghanistan, halt drone attacks and stop meddling in Muslim lands, “we will be attacking U.S.”

Sentencing was scheduled for Oct. 5.

The Bridgeport, Conn., resident was arrested trying to leave the country May 3, two days after the bomb failed to ignite near a Broadway theater.

Authorities said Shahzad immediately cooperated, delaying his initial court appearance for two weeks as he spilled details of a plot meant to sow terror in the world-famous Times Square on a warm Saturday night when it was packed with thousands of potential victims.

The bomb apparently sputtered, emitting smoke that attracted the attention of an alert street vendor, who notified police, setting in motion a rapid evacuation of blocks of a city still healing from the shock of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

According to the indictment issued last week, Shahzad received a total of $12,000 prior to the attack from the Pakistani Taliban through cash drop-offs in Massachusetts and Long Island.

Attorney General Eric Holder said after the plea: “Faisal Shahzad plotted and launched an attack that could have led to serious loss of life, and today the American criminal justice system ensured that he will pay the price for his actions.”

FBI New York Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos called the plea “right on the mark” and praised the work of “ordinary citizens who alerted law enforcement of suspicious activity.”

Shahzad was accused in the indictment of receiving explosives training in Waziristan, Pakistan, during a five-week trip to that country. He returned to the United States in February.

The indictment said he received $5,000 in cash on Feb. 25 from a co-conspirator in Pakistan and $7,000 more on April 10, allegedly sent at the co-conspirator’s direction. Shahzad said in court Monday that the Pakistan Taliban gave him more than $4,000 when he left training camp.

Shahzad, born in Pakistan, moved to the United States when he was 18.

Pakistan has arrested at least 11 people since the attempted attack. An intelligence official has alleged two of them played a role in the plot. No one has been charged.

Three men in Massachusetts and Maine suspected of supplying money to Shahzad have been detained on immigration charges; one was recently transferred to New York.

Federal authorities have said they believe money was channeled through an underground money transfer network known as “hawala,” but they have said they doubt anyone in the U.S. who provided money knew what it was for.

Chevrolet and OnStar announced the formation of the first automaker-sponsored training program to educate the nation’s first responders on how to manage electric vehicles in an accidents.

The announcement is being made by General Motors

in San Francisco jointly with the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA).

“We believe a first responder educational program is a needed step toward helping this very important group of life-savers understand electric vehicles in the event of a crash or other emergency,” said Carmen Benavides, director, Chevrolet Safety. “The team at Chevrolet and OnStar along with first responder organizations are taking the lead as we introduce electric vehicles and other advanced technologies to the roads.”

The inaugural training sessions will take place in Chicago in August at the IAFC’s Fire-Rescue International Conference, and will feature the Chevrolet Volt. Local first responder training workshops will begin to roll out with the car in San Francisco, Los Angles, Detroit, and Washington DC when the Volt sales begin there later this year. Throughout this year Chevrolet has worked with various national first responder representatives from national safety organizations to develop the appropriate training and education materials to be used in these sessions.

The training will include an animation and illustrations of the Chevrolet Volt highlighting locations of high-strength steel, cut points for extrication, first responder labeling, automatic and manual electrical shut-off and more.

The Chevrolet Volt’s safety features include safeguards before, during and, thanks to OnStar, after a crash. Before a crash, the vehicle’s technology helps the driver stay on track with an antilock brake system Stabilitrak and traction control. Additional crash avoidance features include daytime running lamps and hands-free calling capability through OnStar and Bluetooth. During a crash the Volt can reduce injuries with safety cage construction, sensors, crush zones, eight air bags standard and safety belts. And after a crash Chevrolet Volt has the added protection of OnStar which, in certain types of collisions, uses built-in vehicle sensors to automatically alert an OnStar Advisor who is immediately connected into the vehicle and can request emergency help to be sent to its location.

More than 50 crash tests at various speeds and angles have been conducted to date in the development of the Chevrolet Volt, including front, side and rear impacts as well as rollovers. There is extensive use of high strength steel in the body structure in order to achieve outstanding safety performance.

-General Motors

Benavides explains that the Chevy Volt’s high voltage system runs at 360 volts, similar to GMs current 2-mode hybrids which run at 300 volts.  Not much will be different when dealing with the Volt in an accident scenario as compared to hybrids already on the road.

She also explains that just because the Volt has a large lithium-ion battery it doesn’t not behave differently or more dangerously in accidents than conventional cars.  This is a fact GM has verified on its dozens of Volt crash tests to date.  Theses tests have included front, side, and rear collisions as well as  roll-overs and roof crushes.