Would-Be Nigerian Underwear Bomber Sentenced in Federal Court

More than two years after attempting to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner in midair at Christmastime with explosives sewn into his underwear, Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was sentenced to four life sentences at the federal courthouse in Detroit on Thursday.

"The defendant has never expressed doubt or regret or remorse about his mission," U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds told the 25-year-old Nigerian student-turned-al-Qaida-operative during a 90-minute hearing in Detroit. "To the contrary, he sees that mission as divinely inspired and a continuing mission."

"I believe the defendant poses a significant ongoing threat to the safety of American citizens everywhere," Edmunds added, saying she couldn't control his motivations, but could control his opportunity to carry them out.

Abdulmutallab remained defiant. "The mujahideen are proud to kill in the name of God, and this is exactly what God told us to do in the Koran," he told Edmunds. "The situation of one who believes in Allah is always good ... it's always a win-win situation."

He laid into the U.S. government for oppressing Muslims worldwide and federal prosecutors in Detroit for misrepresenting the facts of the case "to achieve their evil goals."

He also insisted that Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki, who sent him on the mission, are still alive. Both al-Qaida leaders were killed last year by U.S. forces.

Against [standby defense lawyer Anthony] Chambers' advice, Abdulmutallab pleaded guilty on the second day of trial last October to all counts, including conspiring to commit an act of terrorism, use of a weapon of mass destruction and carrying a firearm or destructive device during a crime of violence.

Although Nigerian-based islamist group Boko Haram has been increasingly active and lethal in their attacks since late 2011, Abdulmutallab confessed to FBI agents that he had been working with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Penninsula in Yemen to help carry out the attack.

Abdulmutallab received the bomb, as well as training, from AQAP before travelling from Nigeria to Amsterdam.

There he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 to Detroit, which was carrying 279 passengers and 11 crew members.

The bomb was not picked up in security checks at airports in Lagos and Amsterdam.

On board, the bomb failed to detonate completely and passengers had to put out the fire.

Abdulmutallab's father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, an influential banker who is well connected in Nigerian politics, said he had approached the US embassy officials and Nigerian authorities in 2009 to warn them about his son.

Abdulmutallab was already on a US watch list, but not a no-fly list.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Penninsula was also thought the be behind an October 2010 plot that involved parcel bombs flown overseas from Yemen with explosives hidden in ink and toner cartridges.

Stuff that Happened While I was Away From the Computer

I probably should've done this a little sooner, since (sports-related or otherwise) the news doesn't take a week off from happening while I'm away visiting relatives and friends for Christmastime. Quite the contrary- not to mention I think it would look a little odd to comment on certain events well after the fact when they don't seem to be mentioned on this blog in the first place. So without any further adieu, here goes:

December 24, 2009- Congress crams through a multitrillion dollar entitlement program [whose details are still being hammered out as I type this] in the guise of 'healthcare reform' as a Christmas present to the American taxpayer. Never one to lose his touch with the average American, President 0bama vows not to jet off to his Hawaiian villa for Christmas until the steaming pile of fecal matter he seems bound and determined to take credit for is passed. Curiously, networks like CNN, ABC and MSNBC spin this as a victory for 0bama, but fail to mention or explain how this 'healthcare reform' legislation is a victory for the average American.

December 25, 2009- A 23 year old Nigerian national by the name of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab travelling on Northwest Airlines flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit unsuccessfully attempts to ignite a cache of PETN explosives concealed in his underwear on approach to Detroit, earning him the nickname of 'Thunder Thighs', 'The Panty Bomber' and 'Fruit of KaBoom'. Abdulmutallab's father, a Nigerian banker, warned the US embassy of his son falling increasingly under the influence of radical Islamist imams and possibly sneaking into Yemen to train as a jihadist. Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano, taking a break from writing vague and ominous DHS briefings about American veterans, gun owners and anti-abortion activists, appears on NBC news to reassure Americans that 'the system worked'. Except for the part about the guy with ties to radical Islamists whose own father warned the US Embassy sneaking explosives onto a US-bound flight and only being discovered when the tried detonating the explosives....but aside from that the system worked flawlessly. Just like the DOD did a bang-up job detecting Major Hasan's jihadist tendencies prior to his Ft. Hood murder spree.

December 29, 2009- free agent outfielder Jason Bay apparently grows weary of playing October baseball and signs a 4-year $66 Million contract with the NY Mets.