Trial of Nigerian who attempted to blow up American airliner begins today

The trial of a young African man accused of trying to bring down an airliner near Detroit with a bomb in his underwear is no whodunit. Prosecutors have his hospital-bed confession, dozens of witnesses, remnants of the explosive and an al Qaeda video featuring the 24-year-old explaining his suicide mission.

Nonetheless, the prosecution of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab carries high stakes. His failed attack was the first act of terrorism in the United States during the Obama administration, and it could have implications in the debate over whether terrorism suspects should be tried in civilian or military courts.

The case, which starts today with jury selection, also revealed the rise of a dangerous al Qaeda affiliate and the growing influence of a radical Islamic cleric, who was killed by a CIA-U.S. military strike only last week.

Abdulmutallab, a well-educated Nigerian from an upper-class family who has pleaded not guilty, was directed by American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and said he wanted to become a martyr on Christmas 2009 when he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 in Amsterdam with 290 passengers and crew, according to the government.

A conviction on multiple charges could bolster the argument that suspected terrorists should be prosecuted through civilian courts, not military proceedings. Full-throated bipartisan opposition forced the Obama administration to cancel a New York trial for professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, although there have been no similar issues in Detroit.

"Convictions that are achieved in federal court using proper procedures will be upheld on appeal. That's simply too powerful a tool for the president not to use," said Vijay Padmanabhan, a former State Department lawyer who handled cases involving terror-related detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Abdulmutallab faces eight charges, including conspiracy to commit terrorism and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. The government says he wanted to blow up the plane by detonating chemicals in his underwear, just seven minutes before Flight 253 was to land at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

But the bomb didn't work. Passengers assisted by crew members saw flames and pounced on Abdulmutallab.

Smoke was everywhere and "we thought we were losing our lives," said Patricia "Scotti" Keepman of Oconomowoc, Wis., who was seated many rows behind Abdulmutallab with her husband, daughter and two newly adopted children from Ethiopia.

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 following treatment for serious burns to his groin.

Abdulmutallab told authorities he trained in Yemen, home base for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He said he was influenced by al-Awlaki, who was killed Friday by an air strike that President Obama called a major blow to al Qaeda's most dangerous franchise.

SF Gate

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