Wikipedia's first sentence called it “pashtun citizen of afghanistan and legal permanent resident of the united states”. Today it says “afghan-american who was arrested in september 2009 as part of the u”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Afghan member of Al-Qaeda”. It now reads “Afghan-American member of Al-Qaeda (born 1985)”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2010 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2010
Najibullah Zazi (born August 10, 1985, in a small village in the Paktia region of eastern Afghanistan) is a Pashtun citizen of Afghanistan and legal permanent resident of the United States .1He was arrested in September 2009 as part of the 2009 U.S.2 Al Qaeda group accused of planning suicide bombings on the New York City subway system , and has pled guilty as have two other defendants. U.S. prosecutors said Saleh al-Somali , Al-Qaeda's head of external operations, and Rashid Rauf , an Al-Qaeda operative, ordered the attack. Both were reportedly later killed in drone attacks.3 Zazi underwent weapons and explosives training at an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan in 2008. On September 9, 2009, he drove from his home in the Denver , Colorado , area to New York City , intending to detonate explosives on the New York City subway during rush hour as one of three coordinated suicide "martyrdom" bombings. Spooked, however, by surveillance by U.S. intelligence, and warned by a local imam that the authorities were inquiring about him, he abruptly flew back to Denver. He was arrested days later. On February 22, 2010, he pled guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing material support to a terrorist organization . He said he was recruited by al-Qaeda in Pakistan for a suicide "martyrdom" attack against the U.S., and that his bombing target was the New York City subway system. Zazi faces a possible life sentence without possibility of parole for the first two counts, and an additional sentence of 15 years for the third count. Sentencing will take place on June 25, 2010.4Two of his high school classmates who had traveled with him to Pakistan, his father, his uncle, and an imam from Queens, New York, have also been indicted on related charges. Attorney General Eric Holder referred to the planned attack as "one of the most serious terrorist threats to our nation since September 11th, 2001." Michael Wilson (September 25, 2009).5
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 367942750.
The opening as it stood in 2015 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Najibullah Zazi (born August 10, 1985) is an Afghan-American who was arrested in September 2009 as part of the 2009 U.S. Al Qaeda group accused of planning suicide bombings on the New York City Subway system, and who pleaded guilty as have two other defendants. U.S. prosecutors said Saleh al-Somali , Al-Qaeda's head of external operations, and Rashid Rauf , an Al-Qaeda operative, ordered the attack. Both were later killed in drone attacks. Zazi underwent weapons and explosives training at an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan in 2008. On September 9, 2009, he drove from his home in Aurora, Colorado , to New York City , intending to detonate explosives on the New York City subway during rush hour as one of three coordinated suicide "martyrdom" bombings. Spooked, however, by surveillance by U.S. intelligence, and warned by a local imam that the authorities were inquiring about him, he abruptly flew back to Colorado. He was arrested days later. On February 22, 2010, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing material support to a terrorist organization . He said he was recruited by al-Qaeda in Pakistan for a suicide "martyrdom" attack against the U.S., and that his bombing target was the New York City subway system. Zazi faces a possible life sentence without possibility of parole for the first two counts, and an additional sentence of 15 years for the third count. Sentencing was initially scheduled to take place on June 24, 2011. Two of his high school classmates who had traveled with him to Pakistan, his father, his uncle, and an imam from Queens have also been indicted on related charges. Attorney General Eric Holder referred to the planned attack as "one of the most serious terrorist threats to our nation since September 11, 2001." Karen Zraik, David Johnston (September 15, 2009).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 656627275.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Afghan member of Al-Qaeda Najibullah Zazi (born August 10, 1985) is an Afghan-American who was arrested in September 2009 as part of the 2009 U.S. al Qaeda group accused of planning suicide bombings on the New York City Subway system, and who pleaded guilty as have two other defendants. U.S. prosecutors said Saleh al-Somali , al-Qaeda's head of external operations, and Rashid Rauf , an al-Qaeda operative, ordered the attack. Both were later killed in drone attacks. Zazi underwent weapons and explosives training at an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan in 2008. On September 9, 2009, he drove from his home in Aurora, Colorado , to New York City , intending to detonate explosives on the New York City subway during rush hour as one of three coordinated suicide "martyrdom" bombings. Spooked, however, by surveillance by U.S. intelligence, and warned by a local imam that the authorities were inquiring about him, he abruptly flew back to Colorado. He was arrested days later. On February 22, 2010, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing material support to a terrorist organization . He said he was recruited by al-Qaeda in Pakistan for a suicide "martyrdom" attack against the U.S., and that his bombing target was the New York City subway system. Zazi faced a possible life sentence without possibility of parole for the first two counts, and an additional sentence of 15 years for the third count. Sentencing was initially scheduled to take in June 2011.In May 2019, it was announced Zazi would be released from prison after serving 10 years due to extensive cooperation with law enforcement. Two of his high school classmates who had traveled with him to Pakistan, his father, his uncle, and an imam from Queens were indicted on related charges. Attorney General Eric Holder referred to the planned attack as "one of the most serious terrorist threats to our nation since September 11, 2001." Karen Zraik, David Johnston (September 15, 2009).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 965005825.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Afghan member of Al-Qaeda Najibullah Zazi ( Arabic : نجيب الله زازي) (born August 10, 1985) is an Afghan-American who was arrested in September 2009 as part of the 2009 U.S. al Qaeda group accused of planning suicide bombings on the New York City Subway system, and who pleaded guilty as have two other defendants. U.S. prosecutors said Saleh al-Somali , al-Qaeda's head of external operations, and Rashid Rauf , an al-Qaeda operative, ordered the attack. Both were later killed in drone attacks. Zazi underwent weapons and explosives training at an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan in 2008. On September 9, 2009, he drove from his home in Aurora, Colorado , to New York City , intending to detonate explosives on the New York City subway during rush hour as one of three coordinated suicide "martyrdom" bombings. Spooked, however, by surveillance from U.S. intelligence, and warned by a local imam that the authorities were inquiring about him, he abruptly flew back to Colorado. He was arrested days later. On February 22, 2010, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing material support to a terrorist organization . He said he was recruited by al-Qaeda in Pakistan for a suicide "martyrdom" attack against the U.S., and that his bombing target was the New York City subway system. Zazi faced a possible life sentence without possibility of parole for the first two counts, and an additional sentence of 15 years for the third count. Sentencing was initially scheduled to take in June 2011. In May 2019, it was announced Zazi would be released from prison after serving 10 years due to extensive cooperation with law enforcement. Two of his high school classmates who had traveled with him to Pakistan, his father, his uncle, and an imam from Queens were indicted on related charges. Attorney General Eric Holder referred to the planned attack as "one of the most serious terrorist threats to our nation since September 11, 2001." Zraik, Karen; Johnston, David (September 15, 2009).The New York Times .The New York Times .The New York Times .Time (magazine) "JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OVERSIGHT – Part 1 – NewsFlash" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176132153.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Afghan member of Al-Qaeda (born 1985) Najibullah Zazi ( Arabic : نجيب الله زازي , Pashto : نجیب الله ځاځی ; born August 10, 1985) is an Afghan-American who was arrested in September 2009 as part of the U.S. al Qaeda group accused of planning suicide bombings on the New York City Subway system, and who pleaded guilty as have two other defendants. U.S. prosecutors said Saleh al-Somali , al-Qaeda's head of external operations, and Rashid Rauf , an al-Qaeda operative, ordered the attack. Both were later killed in drone attacks. Zazi underwent weapons and explosives training at an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan in 2008. On September 9, 2009, he drove from his home in Aurora, Colorado , to New York City , intending to detonate explosives on the New York City subway during rush hour as one of three coordinated suicide "martyrdom" bombings. Spooked, however, by surveillance from U.S. intelligence, and warned by a local imam that the authorities were inquiring about him, he abruptly flew back to Colorado. He was arrested days later. On February 22, 2010, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing material support to a terrorist organization . He said he was recruited by al-Qaeda in Pakistan for a suicide "martyrdom" attack against the U.S., and that his bombing target was the New York City subway system. Zazi faced a possible life sentence without possibility of parole for the first two counts, and an additional sentence of 15 years for the third count. Sentencing was initially scheduled to take in June 2011. In May 2019, it was announced Zazi would be released from prison after serving 10 years due to extensive cooperation with law enforcement. Two of his high school classmates who had traveled with him to Pakistan, his father, his uncle, and an imam from Queens were indicted on related charges. Attorney General Eric Holder referred to the planned attack as "one of the most serious terrorist threats to our nation since September 11, 2001." Zraik, Karen; Johnston, David (September 15, 2009). The New York Times . The New York Times . The New York Times . Time (magazine) "JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OVERSIGHT – Part 1 – NewsFlash" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1280046101. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “pashtun citizen of afghanistan and legal permanent resident of the united states”. Today it says “afghan-american who was arrested in september 2009 as part of the u”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Afghan member of Al-Qaeda”. It now reads “Afghan-American member of Al-Qaeda (born 1985)”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
terror
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martyr
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Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
pashtun citizen of afghanistan and legal permanent resident of the united states
Now
afghan-american who was arrested in september 2009 as part of the u
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
