NYC subway plotter: We also eyed NYSE, Walmart

(CBS/AP) NEW YORK - The admitted mastermind of a foiled suicide attack on the New York City subways says he and two other men discussed high-profile targets while at an al Qaeda training compound in Pakistan.

Najibullah Zazi testified for a second day Wednesday at the Brooklyn trial of Adis Medunjanin.

Zazi said the 2008 discussion centered on targets that would damage the U.S. economy.

He said they included the New York Stock Exchange, Times Square and an unspecified Walmart.

Prosecutors: Foiled terrorist pondered other NYC targets

Zazi said they eyed the subway because "it's the heart of everything in New York City."

Zazi also testified that al Qaeda trainers taught him a "very simple" formula for making explosives needed for suicide bombs.

After being recruited by the terror network and taken to a compound in the South Waziristan region of Pakistan, Zazi said he learned how to mix chemicals found in nail polish remover and other products sold at beauty supply stores.

"It was very simple and they're everywhere," he said of the chemicals.

Zazi and another man pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Medunjanin in a bid for leniency.

Medunjanin's lawyer insists his client is not a terrorist.

CBS News senior correspondent John Miller called it "the plot that almost happened."

"We talk about these plots all the time," Miller said Tuesday on "CBS This Morning." "Usually they're undercover sting operations: the FBI has all the controlling features, they make the bombs, they record the meetings. In this case they literally found out 24 hours basically beforehand, as Najibullah Zazi (who will be a witness in this case), got in his car with explosive components and headed for New York for targets in the New York City subway system."

Miller, who was working in the FBI at the time, said Zazi, a shuttle bus driver at Denver International Airport, was known to be in contact with al Qaeda, and his movements were being followed minute-by-minute.