DETROIT?? A Nigerian man purportedly trained by al-Qaida said Wednesday he tried to blow up an international flight on Christmas with a bomb in his underwear in retaliation for the killing of Muslims worldwide, taking a federal court in Detroit by surprise as he pleaded guilty on the second day of his trial.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab calmly answered questions from U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds before pleading guilty to all eight charges he faced, including conspiracy to commit terrorism and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.
He then told the courtroom he was fulfilling a "religious duty" that day and participating in an act of jihad against the United States. He said the underwear bomb was a "blessed weapon to save the lives of innocent Muslims."
"The United States should be warned that if they continue to persist and promote the blasphemy of Mohammed and the prophets ... the United States should await a great calamity that will befall them through the hands of the mujahedeen soon," Abdulmutallab said.
"If you laugh with us now we will laugh with you later on the day of judgment," he said.
Video: Alleged 'underwear bomber' changes plea (on this page)
Outside court, defense attorney Anthony Chambers said Abdulmutallab, who had chosen to represent himself and was being assisted by Chambers, pleaded guilty against the lawyer's wishes.
"We wanted to continue the trial but we respect his decision," Chambers said.
Abdulmutallab will be sentenced January 12. He faces up to life in federal prison.
Abdulmutallab, who told the judge he is 25, said he carried a bomb in his underwear onto Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas 2009 with the intention of killing the nearly 300 people on board. The bomb didn't work, and passengers jumped on Abdulmutallab and subdued him when they saw smoke and fire.
Prosecutors' evidence was stacked high. Abdulmutallab was badly burned in a plane full of witnesses. The government said he told FBI agents he was working for al-Qaida and directed by Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical, American-born Muslim cleric recently killed by the U.S. in Yemen. There were also photos of his scorched shorts as well as video of Abdulmutallab explaining his suicide mission before departing for the U.S.
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Timeline: Timeline of 'underwear bomber' attack (on this page)
In September 2010, Abdulmutallab suggested he wanted to plead guilty to some charges. But he didn't, and instead dropped his four-lawyer, publicly financed defense team and decided to represent himself. He said relying on others wasn't in his best interest.
His lawyers at the time said they had talked to prosecutors about a possible plea deal. Abdulmutallab had asked the judge what he needed to do to plead guilty to some charges. She referred him to Chambers.
Passenger Lori Haskell, 34, of Newport, watched Abdulmutallab's plea in an overflow room Wednesday. She called his statement in court "chilling," but not surprising.
"I'm just really relieved that it's done with," Haskell said.
Abdulmutallab had written a few court filings in his own hand, including a request to be judged by Islamic law. He at times appeared agitated in court, declaring that Osama bin Laden and al-Awlaki are alive. He also objected to trial testimony from experts would have discussed al-Qaida and martyrdom.
On Tuesday, passengers on Flight 253 testified that Abdulmutallab took a long bathroom break in the plane, during which prosecutors say he was preparing for death.
He took a small bag to the bathroom and was gone 10 to 15 minutes, according to passenger Mike Zantow, the first witness in Abdulmutallab's trial.
"I thought he was freshening up for arrival in Detroit. ... We had less than an hour to go," Zantow said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Tukel said the son of a wealthy Nigerian banker believed his calling that day was martyrdom.
"He was preparing to die and enter heaven," Tukel said. "He purified himself. He washed. He brushed his teeth. He put on perfume."
After returning to his seat, Abdulmutallab pushed a syringe plunger into the chemical bomb, an action that produced a loud "pop" sound, then flames and smoke, the prosecutor said.
"Then all hell broke loose. While the fireball was on him, the defendant sat there. He didn't move. He was expressionless. He was completely blank," Tukel said.
The government says Abdulmutallab willingly explained the plot twice, first to U.S. border officers who took him off the plane and then in more detail to FBI agents who interviewed him at a hospital for 50 minutes, following treatment for serious burns to his groin.
Abdulmutallab told authorities he trained in Yemen, home base for Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, and was influenced by al-Awlaki, who was killed in a Sept. 30 U.S. military air strike.
Following the strike, a U.S. official outlined new details of al-Awlaki's involvement against the U.S., including Abdulmutallab's alleged mission. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said al-Awlaki specifically directed Abdulmutallab to detonate an explosive device over U.S. airspace to maximize casualties.
Officials have said al-Awlaki was believed to be at a gathering of al-Qaida figures in Yemen's Shabwa mountains a day before the attack, after which al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden appeared in a video declaring Abdulmutallab a "hero." Bin Laden was killed in a U.S. raid in Pakistan in May.
Abdulmutallab also has been lauded by al-Qaida's English-language Web magazine Inspire, whose editor was killed along with al-Awlaki.
After the thwarted attack, the Obama administration moved to strengthen U.S. airline security by deploying full-body scanners to try to detect explosives that could be hidden in a passenger's clothing.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44874278/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
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